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ne Africans as I Saw Them 

B^ Wheeler Hp^ A 7/^ TIVT /^TVTTJ^ With Author's 

Sheppard 1 VV \J ilN ^i>l JOJ Biography 




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ILKIANNA MAYWA, the beautiful Crown Princess of the Kingdom of 
Arrubaland, Africa, who was kidnapped by the Arab slavers and rescued 
by the African Expedition, and shortly upon her return to her native land 
became the loving wife of the Author, who himself was the self-same 
Captain of the Africana Expedition.- Photographed by Africana Expedition. 



We AFRICANS 

AS I SAW THEM 

THEIR CUSTOMS, TRADITIONS 

AND MODES OF LIVING 

(A LECTURE) 

BEING 

A PLAIN AND TRUTHFUL EXPOSITION IN COMPARISON 

TO OUR CIVILIZATION 




Written as an Answer to the Many Attacks Mad^ Upon the 

African's Moral Character and State of Living 

The Whole Carefully Revised and Compiled 

v 

WHEELER SHEPPARD 

</ 
Formerly an African Sailor, Soldier, Trader, Prospector, 
Explorer and All-around Adventurer. 

Author of "Mistakes of Dr. W. E. B. DuBois" 



/f^/ 










W^HEELER SHEPPARD 

AUTHOR'S MOTTO: 

The world has been my school-house; the people therein my 
class-mates; human nature my favorite study; the redemp- 
tion of Africa my ambition ; stoop to conquer my proud 
heritage; the beautiful creation my bible; the laws 
of nature my God; happiness in this life my 
heaven; a guilty conscience my hell, and, 
to benefit mankind is my religion. 



(The Depths of Divinity and Philosophy) 



m 31 1921 ©CU6i4697 



n 






INTKODUCTION 



This little book is the outgrowth of my six years of African 
experiences; the lecture contained herein on "The Africans As 
I saw Them," is the product of my personal observation while 
acting in the capacity of an African trader, soldier, sailor, pros- 
pector and all-around African adventurer. 

Already has the lecture been heard in hundreds of public 
halls and colored churches, and, owing to the many new in- 
structive lessons given on the Africans as they really exist 
I have been asked by many of my listeners at the close of the 
lectures, to have the work compiled into book form, which I de- 
cided to do at the close of the serial. While writing it out I en- 
deavored to avoid the routes that lead to impossibility and in- 
comprehensibility; a plain truthful and humorous account of 
the Africans' customs, traditions and modes of living- are 
herein stipulated; the lecture was written in a style in order 
to blend instruction with amusement; no matter how incredit- 
able the narrative may appear to some, it is, nevertheless, 
true: down to the minutest detail, there is no embellishment 
about it as the facts were written out of a journal which I 
kept expressly for the occasion; every night while in camp, or 
aboard ship, or, while in my cross-country marches, or traveling 
aboard our steam launch Africana, I made entries of events 
in my journal as I really saw them. 

In short, at the close of my lecture, I have, as I promised, 
applied myself to the task of revising the original journal, and 
after a few days of patient labor, I have ventured- without 
any claim to literary pretention, to lay it before the reading 
public in its present form. Here, then- to the "Africans As 
I Saw Them- Their Customs, Traditions and Modes of Living." 

AUTHOR. 



Copyright, 1921 

By 

WHEELER SHEPPARD 

Entered into the Copyrig-ht Office in the 

Library of Congress by Act of Congress 

Washington, D. C. 



Author, President 
W. M. F. Wyder, Mamager 

Golden-Rod Printing Co. 

89 FuUerton Street 

Pittsburgh, Pa. 



AUTHOR'S BIOGRAPHY 



Since I have written several books on wliat the colored 
people should do and what they • should not do as a possible 
solution to the Race Question, some of my readers may desire 
to know something about the early history of my life, there- 
fore, in order to prevent their curiosity from running to excess 
as to who I am or as to what have I ever accomplished either 
for myself or Race, I will here, in brief sketch for their 
benefit, the following memories of my life. 

In the first place, I was bom in Cincinnati, Hamilton 
County, Ohio, in the year of Grace, November 27, 1880. Like 
Ismaiel, the self-raised, I stand alone, I know not my parents. 
I am the second youngest of three brothers and two sisters. 

At the tender age of five I was, with the rest of my brothers 
and sisters, committed to the Colored Orphan Asylum of that 
city. I was so different from the other inmates of the home; 
I took no part in their boisterous games, I was, so to speak, 
young in body but old in mind, I loved solitude. I wished to 
be alone with my thoughts and books — books that were a little 
too refine for the other children who preferred fairy tales and 
other works of fiction above science. The children in general 
disliked my independent attitude and believed that I was fret- 
ful and disagreeable. Many of the inmates had no more 
notion than a charity bird; that food, clothes and shelter did not 
come by nature, and had no anxiety whatever about their 
future; while at the same time they would tease those who 
would endeavor to make the most of their time or refused to 
take part in their frolicking. They even said that I'd soon 
be in some other kind of asylum if I did not stop mopping over 
my books — ^they were,\ of course, referring to the Longview 
Insane Asylum just a few miles beyond the home. But little 
did they know how serious I took life, or what a source of help 
those books would mean to me in years to come. 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 



Like most children, I cried bitterly upon my arrival at the 
home, and felt very lonely without the loving affections of 
parents, but time had made this lonliness customary, and I 
found interests of my own to occupy my mind. 

I remained six years at this home. While at the institu- 
tion I attended the colored public school on Walnut Hills 
which I deserted while in the third grade. Geography was 
my favorite study during school days. My love for geography 
was, I should think, about as strong as a Negro's affection 
for a mule. I poured over my geography both day and night, 
at every available opportunity, and slept with it beneath my 
pillow, well, yes, I even dreamed of it by night. In fact, it 
was my fountain source of inspiration, and the beginning 
of my great universal school. 

It was at the Orphans' Home where I as a mere child 
conceived the idea of not attending Sunday School. For this 
I was, of course, jeered at by the inmates and quite often 
flogged by the matron and the superintendent. In addition 
to this I was made to sit high aloft on a step-ladder as a king 
on his throne, and pointed out to all visitors by the inmates 
as a "Bad, very bad, boy." But, alas! what good did it do? 
None whatever, as I was just as bad (if I may call it as such) 
as ever. However, this brutal treatment soon reached it's 
climax like everything else; I was flogged once too often. 
The trouble all came about in this way: 

One Sunday, as the inmates were holding divine services 
in the Orphanage's school-room, the matron slapped me and 
sent me to bed earlier than usual for not having taken part in 
singing a certain religious, song. "Why didn't you help to 
sing that song, Wheeler?" she inquired of me at the close of 
the piece. 

"I like to sing very much Mrs. D — . but, please excuse me, 
as I don't ever like to hear the name of that song," I replied. 

"Why don't you? 

"Because I don't want to be washed whiter than snow," 
I pleaded. 

"Tell me, if you please, Mrs. D — ., isn't there no black 
angels?" I continued. My question, of course, created great 
laughter on the part of the inmates but only angered the 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 



matron all the more and caused her to fly into a rage. "Why, 
hoy, you're a perfect rascal, if not a devil. Get up from here 
and go to bed, you little brat," she commanded, as she batted 
me a powerful blow on the cheek which sent me a skipping 
up stairs to the boys' dormitory. 

This blow was about as good as any excuse as I wanted 
for escaping, however, another • reason contributed to bring 
about this determination. In fine, I was determined to see 
the world. Still, all considered, the superintendent's punish- 
ment became so unbearable that I was forced to take a French 
leave. This came about on the following morning as the sup- 
erintendent was enroute to the city market. I watched my 
chance, and when I thought that he, the superintendent, was 
about half way to town I took my geography from my school- 
bag, and sneaked off the reservation and set out on my journey 
for the city using the cablecar tracks as my guide. But lo! to 
my sorry I had hung fire. Somehow or other I was unfortu- 
nately overtaken by the superintendent, who, in turn wanted 
to take me back to the home, but I absolutely refused on 
grounds that I would no longer submit to his brutal treatment, 
whereupon, as a last resort, he had me comcmitted to the 
House of Refuge. But I was not long finding out where this 
institution was a paradise in comparison to the Children's 
Home. At this institution I received rational and humane 
treatment and an excellent military education. This, then, 
is only the second of the many departments of my great 
universal school in which I had made good. 

After having served fifteen months in this school, I was 
set free with the rank of major. This was in the year 1892. 
At this juncture lay my problems of life with that terrible 
uncertainty of a bright future. With this in view I set about 
with a bull dog determination to define a solution thereof by 
my own unaided industry. Talk about Ismaiel and his many 
hard struggles' Ah, don't mention them. Rather insignifi- 
cent indeed in comparison to mine. No person can truthfully 
say that he or she ever befriended Wheeler Sheppard, and 
this is to say, whether I really deserved a helping hand on my 
own meritorious conduct or otherwise. Life to me has been 
nothing short of a gruelling scromble, and as I had neither 



8 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

parents or friends to aid me life became all the more harder 
and the scramble all the more fierce, yet when all is con- 
sidered, I verily believe that I have been far more kind to 
mankind than what it has been to me. 

Upon leaving the House of Refuge I was twelve years 
of age, yet I loomed up somewhat large and strong for such 
an age. I don't believe I was free an hour before a pros- 
perous farmer hailed me along the street and asked me as 
to whether I wanted a job for three months at $20.00 per 
month, board and lodging included. I jumped at this bargain 
as a drowning man would at a straw, as, indeed I was badly 
in need of a start in the outer world. No sooner had I 
accepted his offer, he invited me to have a seat beside him in 
his buggy. 

As he was driving homeward he told me if there was 
anything that I needed in particular I had better let him 
know now and then as he only came to town once in a fort- 
night. To this I replied that I would very much like to have 
a geography. "Allright, my boy, you shall have it," he re- 
turned somewhat goodnaturedly. As we proceeded a little 
further on he stopped in front of a large merchandise store 
and requested the man standing in the door-way to bring me 
an Appleton's Standard Geography. And O, how I did prize 
it; no words can tell, I worshipped it as a child would a brand 
new toy. In short, I worked ever so hard and faithful for this 
old gentleman farmer and at the expiration of the three 
months he paid me the required sum of money and brought 
me to town in his buggy, shook me by the hand and bade me 
a hearty goodbye. 

Here, again, I was set adrift, a perfect wandering Jew 
for the first three days yet it was a source of consolation to 
me to know that I had a nice round $60.00 in my pocket. 
I loomed up somewhat high on the financial horizon and felt 
somewhat independent. I was, in a way, a government within 
myself. Thus, it will now be readily seen where I had no 
parents to say to me "Lo, Wheeler, my boy, you must not do 
this or that nor speak out what you think. Look this way 
only, my boy, and make yourself content. My son the good 
Lord will help you." Will He? Well, now, I don't know 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 9 

about that; as I saw, then, and since it was simply a case of 
Wheeler helping himself or either die in dispair. No one 
knew this any better than I. I was under obligation to no 
one. I had by now fully realized that I was a god within my- 
self (young as I then was), but to return more particularly 
to my narrative. 

On the night of the third day I struck out for the Grand 
Central Union Depot and concealed myself beneath the cow- 
catcher of a Big 4 train and made a flying trip to Chicago, 
111. Thus, having, at last struck out on my great universal 
pilgrimage. After a five day sojourn in Chicago I hoboed my 
way to New York which I had picked out as my chief port of 
leave. Upon my arrival in this great city I sought out the 
water front and began to inquire of the dock hands as to 
which was the next outgoing vessel. "What do you w^ant 
with it?" asked one big burley fellow as he smiled and cast 
a wink at his fellow workingmen. 

"Why, sir, I want to see the world," I rejoined. 

"What part of it do you want to see?" he chuckled. 

"All parts," I returned. 

"But what part first?" he inquired. 

"Any and all parts, sir, beggars can't afford to be choosers, 
but, sir, I had much rather to see that part pertaining to 
Africa first." 

"Africa, eh. How then, do you expect to see this expensive 
world without money?" said he with a loud laugh. 

"Why, sir, by working my way around as a sailor," I 
replied. 

"Oh, yes, I see now, you want to be a sea-faring man," he 
interjected. 

At this stage of the conversation we were interrupted by 
a big husky Liberian Kroo Boy sailor who wanted to know 
as to who I was, where I hailed from, my occupation and so 
on. After having answered the sailor's questions on these 
points he then told me that I was the very youngster that he 
was looking for. 

"How would you like to go to sea as Captain Lewis' 
cabin boy?" he asked. 

"All right, sir, hits me just right. You, too, was the very 



10 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

man that I was looking for," I joyfully answered without 
hesitation as I clung all the more firmer to my big geography. 

"Come, then, it's a two years' cruise around the world 
with a bright prospect of a free traveling education in store." 

Yes, that true, I'm with you," said I, swelling up with 
pride at such wonderful luck. "Going to see the world at 
last," I cried out, won't that be fine, Oh, the joy of it." With 
this happy consolation I kicked up my heels once or twice and 
we both wended our way towards the other end of the pier 
where lay peacefully my school ship and future home. 

On boarding the vessel I was greeted most beautifully and 
welcomed home by all hands as a f ullfledged ship-mate. . The 
whole crew was made up entirely of Liberian Kroo Boys who 
belong to a powerful tribe by that name inhabiting a large 
strip of territory along the coast of the Liberian Republic. 
They were said to be natural born water-dogs and the best 
sailors in the world which I soon found out to be a fact shortly 
after leaving port. They were, to be sure, a fine set of intelli- 
gent youngsters varying in age from fifteen to thirty. Captain 
Lewis met me at the cabin door and saluted me in the true 
style of old Father Neptune of the briney deep. He was an 
Americo-Liberian. His father before him was an ex-American 
slave who was freed by his master along with the other chat- 
tels and sent out with the early settlers of the Liberian 
Colony and became a prosperous coffee planter. After the 
formal introduction had subsided the good captain invited me 
inside, and there and then, gave me a brief lecture as to my 
nautical duties. He wound up, after making a turn or two, 
like all sea captains when having showed his authority and 
said: "If, now, you keep everything ship-shape and Bristol 
fashion I'll give you $15.00 a month, see that you get one 
week's liberty at every port of call, and grasp all the oppor- 
tunity in the world to advance yourself." In response, I 
thanked him very much for his kindness and assured him that 
he could depend upon me in performing all of my duties to 
his entire satisfaction, and at this point, we brought our con- 
ference to a close. 

In short, I made this two years' cruise around the world 
visiting the five grand divisions of the earth, touched all of the 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 11 

main islands of the seas, had a bird's-eye view of all the 
principal capitals, entered the ports of twenty-five foreign 
countries and finally dropped ship's anchor in the harbor of 
Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa. Thus ended my first cruise 
around the world. 

Upon arriving in Monrovia Captain Lewis called all hands 
back aft and told them that he had decided to give up the 
International trading business and would henceforth confine 
himself strictly down to the African coast-wise trade. This 
was igood news, I thought. Such a change would do me a 
world of good, as, indeed, I was anxious, yes, very anxious, 
to see a great deal more of Africa, the home of my ancestors, 
her great black mass of humanity and tropical beauty. I 
therefore, signed ship's articles and served another two years' 
cruise with the good captain, to say nothing of the third cruise 
which I served with him on the African station during another 
period of my life. 

In my African school I was not long in learning the 
political and commercial methods in which the greedy white 
foreigner^ were using for the absorption of Africa and her 
great natural wealth. In this school I also learned to speak 
six different African languages, and it was here where I first 
conceived my inspiration of a more powerful Negro Govern- 
nient in Africa, and the exodus of the American Negroes 
thereto for the preservation of themselves as well as for Africa, 
for, these few years abroad had taught me that where ever 
the white man goes he brings about disease, death, destruc- 
tion, conquest and slavery to the Darker Races. If Africa is 
lost, then, the American Negroes as a whole are lost. This 
inspiration I cherish even to this day, an inspiration which 
has made me all the more ambitious dispite the overwhelm- 
ing odds against me. 

But the greatest curse to the whole of Africa was the 
slave trade practiced by the Portugees, Belgians and roving 
bands of Arabs. So repulsive was this brutal system to my 
sense of feeling that I solemnly vowed that I would some day, 
on having acquired sufficient funds, to finance, organize and 
conduct a private expedition and launch it against the man- 
stealers. But as the Portugees and Belgians were backed by 



12 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

strong governments I decided not to interfere with them as 
my proposed expedition would be too weak to t-ake issue 
against their powerful governments. But with the Arabs the 
case was quite different. They simply took the law in their 
own hands, and like myself, they had no fixed government or 
country that they could rightfully call their own. Therefore, 
I was determined to render Africa this little cupful, if not 
redeem her altogether. 

When I had served my two years' apprentice on the Afri- 
can coast I took out my degree as "A. B." and "A. M." seaman, 
and quit the good ship Cape Palmas (for that was my school 
ship's name) for the time being. 

I now wanted other worldly experiences. I was now 
determined to see the interior of Africa and it's great black 
mass of humanity and beautiful tropical scenery. To accomp- 
lish this I finally hired myself out to a French trader at 
Zanzibar, east coast of Africa, and, in short, after fifteen 
months' trafficking and many hardships we eventually en- 
tered Cape Town, South Africa. 

Having now satisfied my curiosity on these points I was 
determined to see more of the Far East or the Orient as it 
is often called. At Cape Town, then, I shipped aboard the 
Astoria, a full-rigged ship, as an able-bodied seaman before 
the mast. This vessel, the Astoria, was then on the eve of 
making her official trial cruise to the Orient after having dis- 
charged her cargo at Boston. When this ship arrived in 
■^Boston the captain told the crew that as the ship would be in 
port at least a month that all hands might take a two weeks' 
liberty ashore before sailing for the Orient. This, of course, 
was a wind fall to all hands, at least to me, as, indeed, I had 
that craving desire to see my brothers and sisters and orphan- 
mates after having circumnavigated the earth. Therefore, I 
was not long in making the trip from Boston to Cincinnati. 
I made a straight bee-line for Avondale where I took up my 
quarters with my sister, to say nothing of visiting all the 
scenes of, my childhood days. 

But not once did I think that this trip to my home city 
would be the means of me deserting my ship at Boston. It 
happened this way. One morning as I was walking down 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 13 

Fourth Street to the depot I noticed a sign in front of the 
Recruiting Office. It read as follows: 

"Colored Soldiers Wanted For 

The United States Army 

Able bodied Men, Age 21 to 35 

For Philippine Islands 

Two Years' Enlistment in Foreign Service 

Apply Within." 

This meant, then, the Far East, and two years' of practical 
military service I thought. As I stood there reviewing the 
sign a young man of color came to the door. It did not take 
me long to recognize him. It was old "Pork Chops" as he was 
commonly called by the inmates of the House of Refuge. 
"Hello Porky, old boy," I saluted as I extended my hand. 

"Why, hello, there, Shep' " he returned. "Where have you 
been keeping yourself since you left the Ref?" he inquired as 
he sized me up very closely. 

"Throughout the world. Porky," I answered. 

"Coin' to enlist?" asked he. 

"I was just thinking about it, Porky," replied I. "Why 
don't you enlist. Porky?" 

"Enlist' why I enlisted three days ago," said he, chuckling 
as though the joke was on me. "Come in and join. It will do 
you a world of good," he insisted. 

"Then if that is the case, I believe I will. Porky. A world 
of good is just what I am looking for," said I. 

"What regiment do you want to enlist in?" he asked as he 
took me by the arm and led me on the inside. 

"Great heavens! how many regiments are there, in the 
first place?" I inquired. 

"Two — the 48th and the 49th volunteer infantry, the form- 
er is being organized at Fort Thomas, Ky., just across the river, 
and the latter at Jefferson Barracks, Saint Louis, Mo." said he 
as he loudly knocked at the office door. 

"Both colored?" 

"Yes." 

"Which one have you been assigned to?" 

"The 48th." 

"Well, I'll too, join the 48th, Porky, just to be with you." 



14 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

With this I stepped into the office and underwent a rigid physi- 
cal examination. 

"My, but you're a fine built youngster," complimented the 
Dr. in charge, "You ought to be man enough to go Philippino 
hunting with your naked fists." But, he asked, "how come all 
of these scars on your back? Never saw the likes before." 

"I received them at the brutal hands of the superinten- 
dent while an inmate of the Orphans' Home. 

"Brutal, indeed, reminds me of the South before the War. 
However, I don't think they will interfere with your enlist- 
ment." 

After having gone through a successful physical examina- 
tion the Dr. handed me over to the recruiting officer, who. 
on his part, cooly looked me over from head to. foot and then 
asked me as to whether I was ready to be sworn in. On 
answering him in the affirmative he offered me a bible with 
Intention of placing me under oath. But, sir, I spoke up 
before taking either oath or bible, I don't feel disposed to 
swear by that bible, a book that has yet to prove itself to be 
true. My word is my bond; it is as good as the Bible- if not- 
better. If God is Truth, so is my word. That is, I am a god 
within myself; so take me upon my word." 

"0, now, tut, tut, tut, that wont' do. Come out of that if 
you want to be a soldier," said the official. "It is simply a 
military formality. Swearing by the bible will not lessen 
the merits of your word. Have you no faith in the bible?" 

"No, sir, I have not, to tell the truth, but I would not have 
you to violate the Army rules for my sake, so, I am willing to 
be sworn in by the bible if I must stoop to conquer more or less. 
I don't suppose it will hurt me, after all." With this, I done 
as he requested and was quickly placed under oath. Thus, I, 
at last became the personal property of Uncle Sam's for the 
next two years. This took place on the 21st day of September 
1898. 

On the following morning Pork Chops and I were sent 
over to Fort Thomas. Two months later, after having become 
trained and equipped soldiers, we were conveyed to San Fran- 
cisco, California, and after thirty days sojourn in the various 
military camps in the vicinity our regiment the 48th, boarded 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 15 



the Army Transport Grant and set sail for Manila by the way 
of Honolulu and Yokahoma, Japan. 

At Yokahoma our regiment landed xmder arms and par- 
aded the streets of the city and then gave a dress parade in 
honor of the Mikado of Japan and the various foreign ministers 
and representatives of the Empire. It is needless to say that 
our exhibition met with a grand success. Tens of thousands 
of Japanese surrounded us and cheered and hurrahed as we 
drilled before their Emperor without a single flaw in our ranks 
especially as we went through the manual of arms. At the 
command of our Colonel every rifle struck home like a voUy 
as if in the hands of one well trained soldier. In the evening 
our regimental band rendered a concert at the Grand Hotel of 
the City in which the musicans were treated right royally by 
both foreign and Japanese guests. But to crown all, our reg- 
iment, the 48th, were honored as the first foreign troops to 
land upon the soil of Japan under arms. 

In short, I served these two yearg with distinguished ser- 
vice and was finally discharged at Camp Presido, San Francis- 
co, California, June the 30th, 1901. Thus ended my first prac- 
tical military career. 

Immediately after being discharged I made a flying trip 
to Cincinnati where I remained with my sister until the flrst 
of August. At this point of my life I was somewhat at a loss 
as to what would be my next move. But this was only for a 
brief period of time. On the morning of August the second as 
I was enroute to New York I fell in with a colored man-o-war 
man who was on a two months' furlough. He told me that 
the government was badly in need of able-bodied coal-passers 
and seamen. "That's me," I joyfully replied. With this, he 
invited me to ship in the Navy on the Atlantic Station; I 
begged him to be excused as I had already seen enough of the 
United States and European countries. My desire was to see 
a little more of the Asiatic World. I therefore, joined a dining 
car crew as a dish washer and railroaded my way from New 
York to San Francisco. Upon my arrival in San Francisco I 
shipped in Uncle Sam's Navy as a coal-passer. My idea for 
coming way out to the Paciflc coast to enlist was owing to the 
fact that I had a much better chance of being assigned to one 



16 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

of the ships of war in the American Asiatic Fleet; inasmuch 
as the crew of the Asiatic Fleet is generally made up of raw 
recruits sent out from the Pacific coast. In short, upon my 
enlistment I was sent from the naval rendezvous to Mare 
Island, the government Navy yards opposite Vallego about 
thirty miles up the bay. After two months' sojourn there 
aboard the old frigate Independent. I was then sent aboard the 
Solace, the Pacific Naval transport and deported to the Asiatic 
station. 

Out there I soon got my fill of everything worthy of seeing 
in the Far East. I have been to all the countries and sea-ports 
of any commercial importance. I got a first class view of 
China, Japan, Borneo, Corea, Austra,lia, Manchuria, Hong Kong, 
Philippine Islands, the Ladrone group and, in fine, all of the 
principal islands of the East. My chief ports of entry were as 
follows: Japan — Nagasaki, Tokio, Kobe, Samisaki and Yoka- 
homa; China — Chefoo, Taku, Canton, Shankhi and Victoria, 
Hong Kong; Philippine Islands — Manila, Cavite, Caloocan, 
Dagupan, Apperri and Sanfernando De Union; Australia — Sid- 
ney and Melbourne. The two capitals of British and Dutch 
Borneo; New Zealand — Wellington; Manchuria — Port Arthur; 
Corea — Seoul and Chemulapoo. Thus much for my practical 
Navy experience in the Far East. 

At Victoria, Hong Kong, China, I took out my Naval dis- 
charge papers, signed articles for another year's cruise in the 
International Merchant Marine Service, shipped aboard Father 
Neptune, a full-rigged ship Captain Honor, and made my second 
tour around the world by the way of dreadful Cape Horn. 
Quitting Father Neptune at Port au Prince, Haiti I took first 
class passage aboard an ocean greyhound for Liverpool and 
from that point sailed for the west coast of Africa, where I 
rejoined my old school ship, the Cape Palmas. 

On boarding the vessel I was welcomed back home in a 
most royal style and given a hearty reception by Captain 
Lewis and my old ship-mates. The native Kroo Boy sailors 
aboard presented me with a pair of bull pups of a peculiar 
hybrid — a cross between a male lion and a bull bitch. 

Upon my return to the coast my ambition became all the 
more stronger in seeing Africa free from beneath the white 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 17 

man's rule. During my five years' absence from the coast the 
Europeans had became all the more domineering and brutal 
towards the native Africans. The worst of all, Leopold- king 
of the Belgians, was busily employed in cutting off the hands 
of all Congo natives who came up short on their rubber tax. 
I saw more than one basket of dried hands and feet- — souvenirs 
of Leopold's misrule in Congoland. 

In short, after having been aboard the Cape Palmas eight 
months the good ship hoist anchor and sailed for San Francisco, 
California, west coast of North America, 

No sooner had the ship reached Frisco, I took out my dis- 
charge papers drew down all pay and allowances, shook hands 
with Captain Lewis and my ship-mates, and, last of all, bade 
old Father Neptune of the briney deep a hail and hearty fare- 
well. Thus ended my sea-faring life henceforth and forever. 

I next struck out for a little more experience at the game 
of. hoboing. It had long been my intention of having the 
reputation of saying that I had hoboed my way from (ocean to 
ocean) across continental United States in a certain given 
time. The feat was to be accomplished only aboard fastman- 
ifest and red-ball freights. I, therefore, provisioned two suit 
cases with fifteen days' rations and sent the greater part of 
my money ahead by the Adam's Express Co. I, then, along 
with my partner, Nathaniel Dumesco, and our two prize bull 
pups, entered and made ourselves secure in a box car of a fast 
manifest freight of the Western Pacific at Oakland, California, 
just across the bay from San Francisco, and went as far as Sac- 
ramento, California, and at this point we boarded a fast freight 
on the Southern Pacific Road, and rode as far as Salt Lake City, 
Utah. There we caught the next out-going manifest freight 
over the Denver & Rio Grande Road without delay and went as 
far as Peublo, Cal., arriving there in the nick of time to catch a 
red-ball freight over the "mop" the Missouri & Pacific Road 
and thundred along as far as Saint Louis, Mo., and from this 
point we paid a five-cent toll to cross over the Mississipi 
River bridge into East Saint Louis, 111., and there caught a fast 
B. & O. freight and rode as far as my home city — Cincinnati, 
our point of destination; there we arrived within twelve days 
without intermission or a single mishap, and that, too, after 



18 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

having covered a distance of two thousand and six hundred 
miles. So much, then, for this chapter of my life. 

Hardly had I arrived in Cincinnati when I began to 
print circulars and give a series of free lectures in colored 
churches and public halls on the "Africans as I Saw Them — 
Their Customs, Traditions and Modes of Living." I was 
six months giving out these lectures, they extended from 
Cincinnati, my home town — as far as San Francisco, Cal.; as I 
said before, these lectures were all free; they were not, as some 
would suppose, a money-making scheme, but, were freely given 
out to work as a principle. However, at the close of every 
lecture some good interested listener would always take up 
a collection, and indeed, by the time I had struck the Pacific 
Coast I had massed a princely little sum of two thousand 
dollars which I cheerfully added to the general fund which I 
proposed should finance the expedition that I intended to hurl 
against the Arab slavers during another chapter of my life. 

Many people (especially colored Americans) imagine they 
can't live nor prosper in a,nj country but the one in which 
they were born and reared; my heartfelt sympathy is with 
such timid people, because, when a people once get that brutal 
theory in their heads that they can't exist nor prosper in any 
other country but the one in which they were born — that 
people, I hold, is lost, lost, yes, forever lost; * * * their pro- 
gress ceases. For my part, I can, and have lived more or 
less in all the principal countries; nothing stands still, every 
thing moves but whining stand-patters; nothing ventured, 
nothing gained; the world moves, and so do I. So, confine 
me not in any one particular country; I'm no child, if any- 
thing, I am a child of Nature! Mother Earth is my country, 
I am a citizen of the world; humanity as a whole is my 
fellow countrymen, and, the beautiful natural sky above is my 
star spangled banner. * * * So, no man, nation or body 
of men can disfranchise or belittle Wheeler Sheppard; for, 
I have the world, yes, my world, before me; so, thanks to the 
many deparments of my great Universal School. 

Having thus brought to light the different branches of my 
great Universal School, I will now, as concisely as I can, sum 
up the main details. Of course, to begin with, my reader would 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 19 

naturally wonder as to how, when and where I managed to 
acquire my book of learning with my traveling education, and 
I will here tell you. Let it be observed, in the first place, I 
went to school just long enough to learn how to read and 
write my first letters. I had practically learnt nothing while 
at my brick and mortar school, if the truth must be told. 
Hardly had Captain Lewis accepted me as his cabin boy did 
I decide to make the most of my leisure time by endeavoring 
to master a greater degree of book learning. Without this I 
knew that my worldly experiences would amount to less 
than nothing. Patience, so I am told, is a great virtue. I 
verily believe it. I have no end of patience, and as I was 
aware of the facl^ that when one knows how to read and write 
he can educate himself if only he possesses the ambition to 
do so. I knew that young as I then was-twelve years of age. 
More than all, I had that childish desire to be an author in 
order to write about my travels, and, as I was now in a good 
position in which to gather up a world of material to write 
about I was, therefore, not long arriving at my conclusion. 
Before the Cape Palmas left the port of New York I went ashore 
and got me a collection of self-taught books — a dictionary, pen- 
cils, slates, a stock of writing tablets and a nice outfit of stan- 
dard works by the best poets and authors of both ancient and 
modern times. Having now acquired these I was inspired with 
the fact that the secret of education lies in memorizing, and 
in order to speak good grammer one must know what- to say, 
how to say it and when to say it. With these facts in mind 
I set to work at once in dead earnest, and, in short, after 
twenty years of hard mental studying and excessive traveling 
I had, at last, thanks to my own personal industry, achieved 
my dearly bought education. Unlike those who jump through 
a college window no dean of any university have conferred upon 
me a diploma, yet, I verily believe that my ability to do well 
anything I undertake is my diploma, and that is far more 
than what many college graduates can truthfully say. So 
much, then, for my education and qualification. 

Then as for my general deportment and social ethics. 
It may be proper to state that during my life I made it my 
fixed and practical duty to be sociable and beneficial to all 



20 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

mankind. No person can say in good faith that Wheeler 
Sheppard had refused to give him or her a helping hand. Hon- 
or bright! I have w;ent broke more than once by aiding a 
fallen sister or brother and in doing this I was neither a 
millionaire or money lender. It was, indeed, simply a case of 
"my proud heritage." I have ever kept in mind and practice 
the old proverbial saying, "We make friends by conferring, not 
by receiving favors," and I knew from my own actual experi- 
ences in life that in order to enter a fellow creature's heart 
we must first go hand in hand as true friends. In fact, I have 
assisted humanity in every quarter of the globe, and of every 
degree, race, nation and kindred. For thi§, I have'nt received 
anything, nor, indeed, am I assuming for anything as I have 
always considered it (even when a mere stripling orphan) my 
religious duty to benefit mankind, and this I believe is a duty 
alike incumbent upon both pauper and prince. Some would 
think that I am a very egotistical fellow; but I don't think so, 
for facts are purely a matter of history, not egotism, and with- 
out historical facts I could not with logic, narrate these brief 
sketches without condescending to personification. But to con- 
tinue. Well, yes, on one occasion I even paid out $50.00 (a 
whole month's pay in order to get a sick woman's husband 
out of jail) and as this deprived me of my last cent I then 
went aboard ship to eat and sleep. Fifty dollars and two days' 
liberty donated to a total stranger. There's no use talking — 
misery, want and suffering will eventually bring the very best 
out of the most callous heart. None but the self-raised can 
fully realize what it is to be in straighten circumstances; I 
know of no other friend but misfortune. Parents I knew noth- 
ing about. More than once have I visited prison houses of 
every description and proffered aid to the inmates. Then, too, 
on my visit to the Orphans' Home, the primary branch of my 
school, I contributed $300.00 to that institution as a recom- 
pense for having aided me and mine when unable to help 
ourselves. From the trustees on down to the parentless infants 
connected with the home were astonishingly amazed to observe 
where the black sheep had finally turned out well; that their 
prediction that I would end my career on the gallows proved 
a complete failure; thus proving to them by practical demon- 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 21 

stration that the so-called black sheep of one's family deserves 
no less consideration than the so-called saints. It is needless 
to ask as to whether I was honored by those connected with the 
old home; however, it is worth the while stating that I was 
besieged by all hands to make a speech; this I cheerfully done. 
I deliver two using as my subjects, "Self Reliance," and "Self- 
made Men as the World's Greatest Characters." These addresses 
of course had a telling effect upon the little ones and brought 
about more talk. There were by now many strange tots at the 
home and several of these asked me why I left the home. I re- 
plied that my chief reason for leaving was owing to the fact 
that I had that longing desire to do for myself, that I was par- 
entless and friendless like themselves, that I had not even re- 
ceived a soothing word of kindness or encouragement from 
those then in command of the institution that it would have 
helped me but little by remaining at the home, and that, too, in 
the face of brutal treatment, and the quicker I went out into 
the world and solved my life's problems the better it would be 
for me and all concerned. In short, I spent the day at the old 
home, and at the close of my lectures I was invited to partake 
of the chicken dinner which I had purchased for the little ones, 
and I don't believe I had enjoyed a better meal before or since 
this grand reunion. 

At the age of 13 I started in as a boxer aboard the Cape 
Palmas. It was one of my favorite pastimes; all deep water 
vessels carry in tow no less than four punching bags and half 
a dozen sets of boxing gloves as; indeed, all sailors are some 
kind of a gladiator. It is a common thing to see a jack tar 
punching the bag in the forecastle or boxing about the decks. 
Inasmuch as the sailors settle all of their disputes and differ- 
ences with the gloves with the first mate as official referee. 
It is strictly against the rulp to strike below the "water line" 
as the sailors put it. 

At this game I soon developed into a first-class heavy- 
weight fighter of the nautical world, and won prizes in every 
sea and principal sea-port in the old world. Out of the 252 
prizes and rough and tumble fights that I have engaged in 
during my life I can say with truth and without flattery that 
I won them all; and this is to say, without having struck a 



22 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

single cowardly blow. While aboard Old Father Neptune I 
fought my last prize battle. My opponent was a big fine able- 
bodied seaman by the name of "English Blonde" who, was on 
up to the day of the battle the champion heavy-weight of the 
Merchant Marine world. ^ The crew of forty-five seamen had 
placed seven hundred dollars on English Blonde and I and 
my partner, Nathaniel Dumesco, (sparring partner) advanced 
five hundred on our side. 

At this piece of pluck Captain Honor took courage and 
signalled to a skipper in command of a passing ship that he 
would bet $50.00 on the black boy, "All right, accepted," re- 
signalled tiie captain of the stranger. The two vessels then 
closed in and the capt.ain of the stranger and his crew boarded 
old Father Neptune to bear witness to the coming battle. The 
battle took place in mid ocean within six days of Cape Horn. 
All hands of both port and starboard watches of both vessels 
stood in the ship's waists where they might get a commanding 
view. In this case the supercargo acted as official referee 
as our first mate Mr, Fryer was laid up with the scurvy. In 
short we fought this battle and I won the day, thus having 
attained the champion heavy weight title of the Merchant 
Marine world; and a title of which I am in full possession of 
to this very day. The five hundred dollars won in this battle 
increased my African fund considerable. By now I had already 
accumulated over three thousand dollars. 

But the greatest and yet the most brutal fight that I ever 
engaged was with a first class seaman nick-named "Anchor 
Watch," a giant Swede, a terror of the five oceans. The purse 
was fixed at $7,000.00. This memoriable battle was fought in 
Brussel, Belgium in honor of the sixteen thousand delegates of 
the Seaman Union then in convention. It was a stubborn 
fight indeed, one that I will long remember; yet I won the 
battle to the profound astonishment of all eye-witnesses. On 
striking the final blow it was somewhat amusing indeed. When 
I sent my hurley opponent down to his shameful defeat his 
fellow ship-mates cried out in a chorus: "Rise and shine, 
Anchor Watch 'Haul in the main brace' Take in sails' 'Ship's 
on fire,' 'Up with ship's anchor,' 'Never say die as long as there's 
a shot in the locker.'" But, however, Anchor Watch did not 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 



hear, for- as a champion he had cast his last anchor; he was 
dead to the world. 

You, I presume, would most naturally ask me as to why 
I did not proceed with the game since I was doing so well 
financially. To this I reply: That although prize fighting is a 
paying enterprise ,that is to some, yet my ambition soared 
much higher than that of a bruising selfish prize fighter. 
Humanity was the height of my ambition, to do some good to- 
wards poor benighted Africa which I was unable to do without 
the aid of money; To create a fund in order to organize and 
conduct an expedition with which to combat the Arabs who 
were pilfering, ravishing and enslaving the native Africans 
was the only force that converted me into a prize fighter, and 
as, I had acquired the necessary funds in this last battle it was 
now left to me to put it to some good account. So much, 
then, for this department of my school. 

More than once have land lubbers said to me, "Why, sir, 
I have been further duck hunting than all the miles you have 
traveled." Have they? Well, now, I don't know about that. 
Speaking for my part, I verily believe that I have been more 
thousands of miles than what they have been miles, kings and 
millionaires included. During my rambling about as a sailor, 
soldier, trader, prospector and all around adventurer I have 
kicked out to my credit 1,250,000 English miles. Now hold 
your peace ye stand patters. Think of it, 1,250.000 miles. Why, 
my friendly critics haven't commenced to keep pace with me. 
My travels have been far and wide, indeed. But this is not all. 

Also I have circumnavigated the earth five different times; 
been to sixty-three foreign countries, all five of the grand 
divisions of the earth, including the principal islands of the 
seas; sailed upon all the oceans and seas, that is, with the 
exception of the Dead Sea,. 

Then, too, I have seen all of the world's great wonders, 
seen the pyramids and sphinx in Egypt, the battlefield of 
Waterloo in Belgium, the Bastile in France, the Towers in Lon- 
don, the mighty fortress of Gibralter in Spain, the old pre- 
historic clock in Canton, China, the Victoria Nyanza Falls in 
Africa, the ruins of ancient Rome, the Island of Saint Helena 
where the once mighty Napoleon died in exile, the interior of 



24 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

the Hindoos, Pagans and Mohamedans temples, and last of all, 
but not the least, seen Admiral Togo accomplished his great 
victory over the Russian Baltic Fleet in the Straits of Corea. 
Of course, all considered, these are only a few of the many 
great things that I have had the pleasure of seeing and far too 
numerous to mention in this brief sketch. 

Some would think, no doubt- that one must be as old as the 
hills in order to enjoy so much experience or cover so much 
territory in a given time- but none but globe trotters and deep- 
water sailors can fully appreciate the fact that one can see 
the wonders of the world and circumnavigate the globe in a 
single two years cruise. 

Then again; to crown all- I have had my right ear lobe 
pierced by an African princess as a member of no small degree 
of the Grand Independent Secret Order For the Redemption 
of Africa. 

Moreover, while in the African coast-wise trade as a sailor 
I saved a Zulu prince from drowning, shot 8 elephants, 4 
hippopotamus, 12 lions, 27 alligators, 16 crocodiles, 43 ostriches 
82 antelopes, 6 panthers, 9 rhinos, 3 zebras, 7 roebucks, 2 
hyenas, 9 cape buffaloes, 12 puff adders and five boa constric- 
tors reptiles ranging from 22 to 26 feet in length. 

During the one season which I spent in the whaling in- 
dustry I harpooned 15 sperm whales off the west coast of Africa. 
But these animals, birds and reptiles do not include any of 
those mentioned in my book entitled "My African Adventures." 

During my life as a soldier I stood shoulder to shoulder in 
gallant battle array in mutual defense of these United States 
and won the battle of "Policy Pass in the Philippine Islands, 
For this loyal piece of service my regiment the 48th Infantry 
colored, received the thanks of Congress. For further informa- 
tion see returns of 48th Regiment, Department of War- Wash- 
ington, D. C. 

Again: During my life as an able-bodied seaman I can 
say with pride and truth that I saved seven lives (all whites) 
save one Zula prince. Of these two were women — the captain's 
wife and daughter whom I cared for and shielded from all harm 
for three weeks on the Island of Formosa. On the morning 
of the 22nd day we were all picked up by a British Cruiser 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 25 

and conveyed into the port of Victoria, Hong Kong, China. 
For these heroic services the rescued Zulu prince offered me 
the chieftainship over a powerful tribe in Zululand, but, I 
declined the favor on ground that I was not then qualified 
to dictate the policies of men. Neverthless, he bestowed upon 
me the title of "Full Blood Brother" — a title of the highest 
Zulu distinction. The American Consul, on the other hand- 
presented to me an outfit of clothing, $25.00 in money, a card 
of recomendation and a passport to Manila, P. I. on the battle 
ship Kentucky which was then the Flagship of the American 
Asiatic Fleet commanded by Admiral Evans — Fighting Bob. 
This Reward for such a service or services may, perhaps, 
appear somewhat staff to some, but, however, I hear where 
Mr. Carnegie is serving out large sums of money and many 
scholarship prizes for far less heroism. 

I have indeed been taught some rather stern lessons in 
my school, in other words, I am a post graduate of the ragged 
edges of the world; I know the ways and things of life, but 
mere bookmen and logic-choppers only think they do. What 
little I know I managed with much difficulty to pick it up 
here and there both ashore and afloat. 

At the close of my lectures at San-Francisco, my partner 
and I began immediately to finance our proposed expedition. 
This small but up to date Expedition had cost my partner and 
I an even $6,000.00 of American money. The strength of the 
expedition consisted of a 35 foot steam launch converted into 
a swift battle cruiser with a dynamite one-pounder machine gun 
mounted in the bow and 35 well-trained native African scouts 
officered by my partner and a young ship-wrecked Scotch lad 
whom we picked up at the mouth of the Congo River- West 
Africa. The expedition was secretly organized at the mouth 
of the Congo River, Thursday, April the 2nd- 1908 and finally 
launched it against Tip-0-Tib the chief Arab slaver whose 
headquarters were situated on an uncharted Island in the 
interior of Equator Africa. The battle was fought on Tues- 
day, morning, April the 14th, and after one hour's stubborn 
fighting the chief slaver was put to route with a loss of ^250 
killed ^nd twice as many wounded. The expedition lost but 
one killed and one wounded. Thousands of dollars worth of 



26 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

plunder were captured and hundreds of slaves Were liberated 
and convoyed back home by the expedition. On the following 
day while convoying the slaves back home the expedition 
blundered upon an Arab carvan making it's way into Tip~0- 
Tib's headquarters which unknowingly, to the carvan, had been 
reduced to ashes and the chief slaver and his followers put to 
flight. 

We took these Arabs-forty in number by suprise as they 
were all recreating themselves in a river. A short but 
fierce battle took place in which every Arab was exterminated. 
They had no slaves but we added all of their stolen plunder to 
our stores, and then proceeded to Arrubaland, the country of 
the freedmen. 

Among these freedmen was a beautiful African princess 
by the name of Lilkianna Maywa who became my first love 
and wife upon restoring her and her people to their country. 
When we arrived in Arrumaland King Maywa, father of the 
kidnapped princess, received the expedition in state, gave 
us the freedom of the kingdom with the rights to trade, hunt 
and roam about at will without taxation. After five months 
sojourn in Arrubaland the expedition returned to the coast 
and peacefully disbanded. General details of this mission 
to Africa will be found in my book entitled, "MY AFRICAN 
ADVENTURES". 

Thus it will now be seen where The world has been my 
schoolhouse the people there in my classmates; human nature 
my favorite study, the redemption of Africa my ambition; stoop 
to conquer my proud heritage, the beautiful creation my Bible; 
the Laws of Nature my God happiness in this life my heaven; 
a guilty conscience my Hell- and, to benefit mankind is my 
religion. 

Having thus, in brief- narrated the principal details of 
my life, I here- then, in finally, bring to a close my biography. 



GENERAL LECTUEE 



The place where a great city stands is not the place of 
stretched wharves, docks, manufacturers, deposits of produce 
merely. 

For the place of ceasless salute of new-comers, or the 
anchor-lifters of the departing. 

Nor the place of the tallest and costliest buildings, or 
shops, selling goods from the rest of the earth, 

4 

Nor the place of the best libraries and schools, nor the 
place where money is plentiest, .... 

Where the city stands with the brawniest breed orators 
and bards. 

Where the city stands that is beloved by these, and loves 
them in return and understands them- 

Where no monument exist to heroes but in the common 
words and deeds. 

Where thrift is in its place, and prudence is in its place- . . 

Where the city of the faithfulest friends stands- 

Where the city of cleanliness of the sexes stands. 

Where the city of the healthiest father stands. 
Where the city of the best-bodied mothers stands, 

There the great city stands. — ^Walt Whitman. 
Ladies and gentlemen, and my fellow racemen, 
Greetings : — 

You have gathered here tonight in hopes of hearing from 
my personal African experience the conditions of the Afri- 
cans' lives as they really exist, and, this I shall cheerfully do; 
therefore, in order to cover the vast fields more in detail, I 
shall use for my subject in lecture, "The Africans as I Saw 
Them, Their Customs, Traditions and Modes of Living." This, 
then, shall be the substance of my lecture in comparison to the 
conditions of our glittering and glaring civilization. 

But, allow me to say, in the beginning of this lecture, that 
it has long been my intention- when- but a mere child at the 
Cincinnati Colored Orphans' Home, to see Mother Africa in all 



28 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 



lier glory — the home of my ancestors- that great black mass of 
humanity and her dazzling tropical beauty. Young as I then 
was, I was an exceedingly matter-of-fact child. With me, 
seeing was believing, using was proof, and whatever the eyes 
beheld the heart was bound to believe. I wanted something 
better than mere assertions. Nothing short of bed-rock and 
the visible truth would appeal to my sense of reason. I would 
take nothing a.s granted. I longed to be a free-thinker, an 
investigator, and an examiner into the whys and wherefores 
of things. I, therefore, eventually, ran away from the old 
home, and, this is to say — without so much as a coat to my 
back, or shoes on my feet or a red penny in my pockets. In 
fine, I have, at last, seen Africa and the Africans; my little 
cmp has been filled, not with bitter gall, but with sweet 
essences of African experience- and, thank God- that the Afri- 
cans that I saw were altogether different from those that I saw 
and read about in books. Indeed, such an Africa nor Africans 
do not really exist, but, only in the heated and prejudiced 
minds of fools and slanders. Believe me; I don't flatter you. 
Customary language has classed the condition of man 
under the two discriptions of civilized and uncivilized life. 
To the one it has ascribed felicity and influence; to the other, 
hardship and want. But, however, our imagination may be im- 
pressed by painting and comparison, it is nevertheless true 
that the greater portion of mankind, in what are called civil- 
ized countries, are in a state of poverty and wretchedness far 
below the condition of an Indian or African. Whether I have 
two little sense to see, or too little sense to be imposed upon; 
whether I have two much or too little pride, or, of anything 
else, leave out of this comparison; but certain it is, that what 
Is called Christian Civilization, always appears to me a silly 
contemptible thing when compared with the moral and virtuous 
life of an African. I compare it with something kept behind 
a curtain, (like for instance, their rising skirts and frontless 
and backless waists) about whicl"^ there is a great deal of 
bustle and fuss, and a wonderful air of seemingly solemnity; 
but, when, by any accident, the curtain should raise and the 
audience sees what it really is, it bursts into a merry flood of 
laughter. 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 29 - 

Indeed' the Africans have been badly misrepresented, and, 
the reading public badly misled. The Africans have been 
painted with a deep coat of black. All that tends to degrade 
and demoralize have been heaped upon them. Great Heavens! 
Why, they are, indeed, altogether a different class of people. 
I only wish the standard of morality among the so-called Chris- 
tians was on equal par with the irreproachable morality of the 
Africans. If, indeed, the Africans are savages- then, we must 
be something far worse. Hear me, in all sincerity, the Afri- 
cans can, if the truth must be told, learn us a good deal with 
respect to morality and humanity- but, I entertain a doubt as to 
whether we can teach them anything but a world of mischief. 
I speak plain, freely without restraint. Let the logical truth 
have a hearing though the heavens fall. The times and the 
subject demands it to be done. The bare-face lies, invented 
absurdities and downright impositions against everything per- 
taining to the Africans customs traditions and modes of living, 
has not only precipitated my intention, but, render my style of 
lectures exceedingly necessary, lest in the general wreck of false 
doctrines- false customs, false traditions ,and false modes of 
living, we lose sight of the true African morality, humanity 
and theology. Accepted. 

But to resume: So-called civilized people — the whites 
more particularly endeavor to hold up the Africans for univer- 
sal ridicule. But it won't do- I say. As wisemen will always 
ridicule foolish things and fools ridicule wise ones I see no 
occasion for ridicule from the one side or the other. We, all 
of us are ridiculous. It is simply a case of tit for tat, or vice 
versa; we laugh at the Africans- and, they, the Africans, in 
turn, laugh at us. Yet, and, still, civilization, with all its un- 
told miseries, vice and corruption, will insist upon pronoun- 
cing the Africans as savages, heathens and cannibals. Pardon 
the pun! With all their savagery, the Africans as I saw them- 
are angels with ready-made wings in comparison to the vast 
•sea of hipocrites throughout the civilized world. By this, I 
mean not to say that there are no good people among us, but, 
however, I do hold, that they are few (and but few) that at 
times we lose sight of them when we consider the extraordinary 
force of rascals of every discription within the compass of 



30 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

Christendom. Yet- with all, we have every reason to believe 
that there is a certain degree of honesty among us. Were it 
not so, civilization, as it is erroneously called, would cease to 
be altogether. But, this is neither here nor there. I am not 
contending neither for nor against the few honest individuals 
in this comparison, nor, am I here to speak in details of my life 
in Africa. Yet, with your kind permission, I very readily hold 
myself in readiness for any and all questions that any of you 
in this vast audience might feel disposed to put to me in respect 
to Africa and things pertaining to Africa. But, while com- 
paring the moral codes of individuals or races, it would be out 
of parliamentary rules were one to allow hunting scenes or any 
other mere trifles pertaining or appertaining to one's self, come 
in conflict with the vital issue in question- as such trifles will 
only create confusion and cause the audience, or, reader to lose 
sight of the original subject. I will, therefore, steer clear of 
all ideas not related to my subject, and confine myself stricly 
down to the general theme — "The Africans As I Saw Them, 
Their Customs, Traditions and Modes of Living." Here we 
are. ThiS' then, is my subject, and the theme that I shall 
adhere closely to until this lecture is brought to a close. As I 
before said, so say I now- I am not here to place the few above 
the many — be they ever so honest. As the majority among 
both civilized and savage are supposed to decide and settle 
all questions — to say nothing of ruling — I shall, therefore, con- 
sider the greater above the lesser, which I verily believe to be 
right. King Righteousness is my Guide; that is — first to know 
that I am right, then, go ahead though the world is against me. 
Upon this rock I firmly stand. Very well. 

So we very often- then, hear people, both white and black- 
presenting the following questions: What kind of a country 
is Africa? How do the people manage to live down there? Is 
it a rich country? That's one country above all others I would 
like very much to see. But I don't like the stories they tell 
about Africa. Are the Africans really as bad as they are. 
painted? In answer to this last question — I say, out of respect 
for my African experience, if not as a bold challenge to all 
those who would take the negative, — No! No! No! Once, again. 
No! The Africans are not one half as bad as they are painted. 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 31 

The white painters are far worse in character, principles and 
morality than their make-believe African sketches, as I will 
endeavor to prove without a shadow of doubt during the pro- 
gress of my comparison. Aifd, when I have done with it, I ask 
for an honest verdict in accordance to the evidence. 

Let me say, once and for all- that these children of nature 
whom we shun and hold in utter contempt live a life that is 
worth living, and worthy of our imitation. "Simplicity" is their 
guiding star. Moreover, the simple life is the only true life. 
Mother Nature even tells us so with unerring certainty; inas- 
much, as she punishes those with severity who would act con- 
trary to her laws. And is it not equally true that the world's 
foremost philosophers are now crying out, "Back to sim- 
plicity!"? 

Talk about African savagery! Great Heavens! Why, the 
Africans are altogether a different class of people. Instead of 
being a race of savages ,they are, in reality but a simply 
childish people, and, were it true that they are savages- the 
white man could not stay in Africa one brief minute. They, 
the Africans, are far more virtuous, congenial, benevolent and 
agreeable than we, their so-called superiors. I know these are 
hard blows, but they are true ones, nevertheless. And the 
Africans sincerily wish to have these facts scattered in every 
quarter of the globe that the now pending lies and prejudices 
against them might be removed. I, therefore, cheerfully under- 
take this task all the more- readily, and, when I have done with 
it, I defy any man, nation or body of men to refute the argu- 
ments that I here lay down. And I shall here call upon the 
Almighty God to bear witness as to my sincerity. So say I 
now; so help me God! This, then goes to prove how much I 
appreciate and respect the face value of my experience. But, 
hear me out: 

"Oh! you would naturally say, but, the Africans go about 
half-naked' that they do not wear enough clothes" as though 
clothes were the making of one. Admitting now that they did go 
about in a nude state. What, then? Nothing. Clothes do not 
promote good morals- nor, make fine people. What! A fifteen 
dollar hat on a two cent head will never cultivate a stupid 
brain. The gold smith who makes crowns does not, and can 



32 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

not, make the wisdom. The honest and industrious tailors who 
make fancy cut garments are not the best dressed. Dirty- 
beneath and clean on top can never make up for cases of 
deficiencies. Clothes are not the crowning st<ar of one's life. 
It is the internal, and, not the external, that needs develop- 
ment. Principles are the true tests of man or womanhood. 
Were we to go less on beauty and fine clothes we would hear 
less of people igetting stung every day. A single degree of 
conmmon sense is far more vital than a diploma. What we 
need, then, is less vainglory, and more common sense. Upon 
reflection we will observe where Africa is the hottest division 
of the earth' therefore, is it but little wonder, then, that the 
Africans use the climax, and not clothes as their beacon light. 
They dress for comfort's sake, not for mere show or style. 
Clothes worn in America and Europe can not be worn, with 
comfort in tropical Africa unless you are determined to sweat 
yourselves down to mere shadows. More than all, the brainest 
men throughout the civilized world are not the best dressed, 
the industrious are not the richest- the best people are not in 
the church, the biggest rascals are not in prison, nor either, 
the wisest in office. By no means. These are staggering facts 
which go to prove that there is something radically wrong, if 
not rotten and doubtful about our much vaunted civilization. 
The fact is — ^what we need is a new civilization modelled upon 
that of the Africans' in most things. Now, if it be a question of 
clothes, we .must not lose sight- of the divine fact that Christ, 
the moralist and founder of Christianity, wore far less clothes 
than those to whom He preached good morals. Do you not 
know this to be true. Well, now, it is a historical fact that He 
was born in a manger, went about hatless, and barefooted, with 
only a single garment thrown loosely about his shoulders. 
We do not" as with the Africans, pronounce this virtuous and 
Admirable Man as a savage. We pay homage to Him. So the 
same principles are laid down for the government of any other 
man, nation or body of men. It is very often asserted that a 
good appearance goes a long way in the manner of promoting 
one's object. And so it does so far as the customs, traditions 
and modes of living goes among civilized people. That I admit, 
cheerfully ' admit. But were I to treat with a mechanic to 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 33 

do a piece of work I could not fathom his worth by considering 
his outward appearance. Because the Africans relish elephant 
flesh in contempt of our likes or dislikes, it does not- nor can 
not lessen the Africans' taste for elephant flesh, any more than 
the Africans' likes or dislikes for our greasy beef stews would 
effect our appetites for that which is palatable to us. It is 
quite true that there are many among us who would not eat 
certain Africans' dishes, and it is equally true that there are 
many an African who would turn up their nose in utter disre- 
gard at many of our so-called fine dishes. A man who can't 
see beyond one's clothes is disqualified to discuss the subject 
for the fields of logic are too broad and deep for their narrow 
views to explore. 

But what is more strange, if not marvellous, is the fact that 
those who are hollering the longest and loudest against the 
Africans' style of dress are the very ones who wear the least 
clothes — if I say, I may be permitted through courtesy to call 
them by the name of clothes. They are somewhat amusing. 
Clothes, indeed! Why, they are brightly polished at the knees 
and elbows. Their old weather-beaten tatters and rag^ are too 
sad for tears. They are, in short, dirty enough to grow vege- 
tables, greasy enough to fry, and lousy enough to walk. They 
have no commercial value, and, in such a pitiful plight they 
could hardly demand the respect of a rag-picker, let alone 
Dutch Cleanser. In fact- one half of civilization is, so to speak, 
playing hookey from the rag man. Therefore, he who would 
put clothes on his neighbor's back should first of all pluck the 
lice from his own. 

When I have done with this lecture I presume that my in- 
telligent audience will know far more about Africa and the 
Africans than all fake lecturers who go no further to see Africa 
than the white man's lieing geographies and propagandists. 

But what makes the Africans appear all the more insigni- 
ficant in the eyes of civilization is the unpleasant fact that 
they are even belittled and misrepresented by the majority of 
American Negroes who have actually visited Africa — Dr. Shep- 
herd- my name sake, in particular. We, the American Negroes, 
could not expect nothing more from the white man, as, he 
will even blaspheme heaven for the sake of gold. God, Gold 



34 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

is his god. Truth is an unwelcome guest in his household- 
where the rights of the black man are concerned. A lie is his 
best friend in all such cases where the dark-skinned peoples 
are involved. Therefore, we can but make some allowance 
for him. But, when such men as Dr. Shepherd and other men 

of color return from Africa and tell us untold tales of woe- 
or, shall I say, downright invented lies, pertaining to the 
Africans, it( then, leaves no doubt in their audiences' and 
readers' minds, that, the white man, after all- must have told 
the truth. But, however, the audiences and readers ought not 
to forget the all-absorbing fact, that all foreign missionaries- 
both white and black, are in the white man's pay. I hate 
a lie, and all liars are repulsive to me, and, as I have seen the 
Africans as they really exist, and Africa in its true light, I 
reject them- deny them, and defy them — ^whites or blacks, 
Christians or non-Christians — one and all alike. Dr. David 
Livingston, the white missionary, spent some thirty odd years 
in the principal parts of Africa, and he was dearly beloved 
by all Africans of whom he came in contact. Just think of 
savages loving! Is it not ridiculous! But- however, they cheer- 
fully hailed the Dr. as the, "Great White Spirit." His name 
is highly respected even to this day among the many tribes 
with whom he had associated. The native Africans even wept 
bitterly at the Doctor's death, and tenderly cared for his body 
and preserved it in what they called holy ground until it was 
sent for- and, then had the goodness to convey it to the coast 
through hundreds of miles of dense forests and jungles. Now, 
think again of savages weeping, displaying heart-felt sym- 
pathy- and doing loving justice, mercy and endeavoring to make 
the Christian world happy by returning their honorable dead. 
Ought not this be against the laws of savagery? Neither Dr. 
Livingston nor the various white explorers have as yet to 
accuse the Africans of such atrocities as our brother in black 
— Dr. Shepherd. Had the so-called African cannibals snared 
Dr. Shepherd and killed him, dressed him, and boiled . him 
down to a missionary stew we would, then, have had every 
reason to believe that a little African girl ate her mother as 
the black missionary puts it in his foolish pamphlet. Why, 
should cannibals overlook an inviting foreigner as an article 
of consumption above one of their own kind? A craving 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 35 

cannibal's appetite has no respect even for a Christian mis- 
sionary. Simply being a Christian missionary will never 
answer as an apology for a cannibal's culinary department. 
A stamach that could digest one of its own kind and kin is 
capable of swallowing anything. Admitting now that Dr. 
Shepherd had been in the cannibal wilds, as he calls it, for 
20 years does it' I ask, look reasonable that those so-called 
man-eating tribes would have spared the Dr. to tell the tale? 
I think not. Indeed, these false reporters seem to think their 
readers and listeners are wholly destitute of minds. To say 
that a foreigner can live alone for 20 long years among 30,- 
000,000 of vicious and relentless man-eating savages without so 
much as receiving a single injury at their hands (let alone 
being devoured) is, indeed, a very feeble expression of truth. 
Hence, the very ones who should have told the Race the moral 
truth with respect to Africa and the Africans, have, instead- 
sanctioned the white man's lie. Of course, as there is a cause 
and effect to everything, I would not be going wide off the mark 
were I to say that it is done for no other purpose than to de- 
ceive the American Negroes as to the true conditions of Africa 
and the Africans in order to prevent them from immigrating 
thereto. No wonder, then- the greater part of that grand 
division of land is in the hands of foreign white robbers! 

As an illustration, I will here give but one instance : What 
is said against the Africans is equally said without authority, 
against the American Negroes. As you know, we are generally 
put down by the whites as a Race without souls — as ravishers, 
black fiends incarnates and brutes in human form. Very well 
do I remember the position in which we colored soldiers w^ere 
placed upon our arrival in the Philippine Islands in the latter 
part of 1898, at the outbreak of the Philippino Insurrection. 
The white troopers were stationed in the Islands long before 
the advent of the colored boys. But, on hearing that the 
colored soldiers were enroute to the Philippines to do their 
share of foreign service, the whites at once began to put stuff 
and nonsense into the heads of the native islanders. Of a 
truth' the colored soldiers, like these so-called African canni- 
bals, were badly misrepresented from every view point. They, 
the whites entered the native huts and gave out vague reports 
about us. They told them, in part, that the American nigger 



36 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

cannibal soldiers were coming over to steal their women- eat 
their pickaninies, and, if cohabitation should take place, the 
women would give birth to grinning devils with large circular 
homes, bat-like wings* fork-like tongues, mule-like ears, bright- 
ly polished split hoofs, glaring red eyes like peep-holes in the 
door of a fiery furnace, and long sweeping tails tapering off 
like an arrow-tip. Now, this is no hashed up affair on my part, 
as some of you might believe. It is an unimpeachable truth. 
Whatever the eyes behold the heart is bound to believe. If 
I have erred, at all, it is because I have spoken too conserv- 
ative on the matter, and omitted certain matters that should 
have been rightfully exposed. But as this is only an illustra- 
tion to the general theme- I shall not, as I promised, harp up 
matters that are not in direct point with the vital issues in 
question. But to return. Above all, this story was whispered 
in my ears time and again by no less authority than the Philip- 
pin os themselves — men, women and children alike. Hearing is 
a fact. And' for further information I would refer my fellow- 
listeners to any of the first colored soldiers who has seen 
service in the Far East. But, to continue the illustration: Of 
course, by not knowing our customs, traditions and modes of 
living the native islanders taking fables as granted until they 
became better acquainted with us. And, then, what? The 
white slanderers simply fell victims to their own follies and 
invented lies. Furthermore, the Negroes and Malays soon be- 
came fast friends, to say the least of the fact, that the boys in 
black framed a monopoly on the belles throughout the islands 
to the profound dismay of the whites. So, now, as with the 
Philippinos, it is left for the American Negroes to define the 
truth, the whole truth, and nothing else but the truth, as to 
the Africans' true customs, traditions and modes of living. 
Thus much for my illustra,tion. 

We will now proceed to the consideration of the Africans 
from A to Z. To me it was an extreme pleasure to observe 
where the Africans bathe three times a day — ^morning, noon and 
night. Three times a day, I said. Consider that! Does it not 
suggest something to our fancy cut civilization? It ought to. 
And now, may I ask, how often do we take a bath? I am almost 
afraid to say. As you know, some never bathe. Really! They 
smell like death! They shun a little soap and water as they 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 37 



would a venenious serpent. I know the dodge. Had I im- 
parted this fact to the Africans they might have doubted it. 
But, such is a fact; a fact that stares us in the eyes at- every 
crook and turn. Often have the native Africans asked me as 
to why I did not bathe more often than once a day. I told them 
that I was bathing, then- owing to the hot climax, far more 
than What I was used to, and, on replying that we only bathe 
one-seventh of the times back in civilization, they would burst 
out into a flood of laughter. One native, in particular, while 
washing my back in the river, undertook to give me, at least, 
one good scrub down with coarse sand- palm oil soap and a 
stiff native-made scrub brush. 

The Africans have yet to see a louse, as, it is a native 
product of civilization. Were they to see one, no douSt they 
would think it was merely a grain of wheat inspired by an 
unknown force of locomotion. 

Like the Africans I verily believe in the Goddess of Good 
Health, the Gospel of Soap and Water- and the Civilization of 
Cleanliness. In writing out his various booklets, Dr. Shepherd 
failed to make out these just comparisons. He endeavored 
only to point out the Africans' bad qualities and omit their 
good ones. Is that fair? On reading his works between lines 
one would suppose, that they were merely written to amuse 
children. The greater part of his works were given to empty 
prattling childish phrases such as — "He said this, and he said 
tha,t." There is nothing instructive about this unless it was in- 
tended for no other purpose than to show what a fool the author 
himself was. It is only by his foolish style that any profit could 
possible be attained by the rationa,! and intellectual world. He 
should have told, above all, what he saw, not merely what he 
heard. And- as he did not say that he saw a little African 
girl eating her mother, but, as imagination will supply all cases 
of deficiencies, we may suppose, if we please, that it was none 
other than Dr. Shepherd himself that devoured the little girl's 
mother. As you must admit, we of civilization have a peculiar 
kind of cannibal among us, he does not eat every part of the 
human carcass — just a certain part that appeals to his lustful 
nature. This alone is the only specie of cannibal that I have 
any knowledge of, in the face of all my wide-world travels. I 
wonder if the good Dr. has as yet encountered this specie of 



38 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

man and woman eater? If not, then lie is a case in point of 
his own opinion — Knowledge first begins at home." Some 
great statesman and emancipator, I think it was Abraham 
Lincoln, said: "You can fool some of the people all the time' 
and all of the people some of the time, but, you can't fool all 
of the people all of the time." How true! An orderly system 
of comparing the customs, traditions and modes of living of the 
people of two different countries is the only true principle laid 
down by God Almighty for adjudging the moral worth of the 
two. Anything less is not worth either talking or writing 
about. But, in this lecture, I mean not to render the Dr. as 
my main target of ridicule. Nor, either do I care to get per- 
sonal; it is not the man, but his non-comparable principles that 
I am attacking; I stand for men and measures; I attack 
principles only, not men. Therefore, it disinterests me as to 
whether my opponents take offense to this bold but necessary 
investigation. Facts should not be stifled, by no means. Un- 
derstanding the Africans' ways from personal contact, knowing 
my own heart, and, feeling myself, as I now do, rich in worldly 
experience as well as literary ability, qualities that are even 
denied my mistaken opponents- I answer not to falsehood or 
abuse, I will advocate the rights of the Africans As I saw and 
Know Them. Being myself an orphan and self-raised- I know 
from personal association what the Africans must contend with 
in the face of this universal misrepresentation. It is the nature 
of compassion to associate with misfortune. In taking up this 
subject, I seek no recompense — and, above all — I fear no con- 
sequence. Fortified with the proud integrity, that disdains to 
triumph or yield, I shall cheerfully go on with this investigation 
until the Africans are fairly and fully vindicated. 

All of Dr. Shepherd's works on Africa and the Africans may 
be properly styled as literary garbage. And if my opponents 
are disqualified or too prejudiced to make out an honest com- 
parison they had better keep silent altogether. It is to my 
credit, if not theirs, to handle this subject without gloves. 
Therefore, threatening demonstrations will no longer succeed; 
compromising and modifying of terms are out of the question; 
nothing short of returning those noble principles that right- 
fully belong to the Africans- and the removal of all poisonous 
and spurios ideas engendered into the American Negroes' minds 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 39 



with respect to the land of their ancestors, will induce me to 
sheath my sword and acknowledge that — "All is well!" Until, 
then, I shall fight on, on, and on, with a tenacity that knows 
not defeat. This, then, is my democracy, and, upon that rock 
I firmly stand. 

Talk about African savagery! Praise be to my African 
experience! These African critics look upon the Africans from 
a mere animal view point — all because they live in a state of 
lazy enjoyment — as the critics are pleased to call it. If the 
principle of industry is to decide one's position in life is it, 
then' not equally true, that we have throughout the civilized 
world a set of high-flying loafers through courtesy called mil- 
lionaires? I say loafers, for, a loafer is but a loafer whether 
he is in receipt of a million dollar bank account or without a 
coatf to his back. So, we might as well call all things by their 
right names. We should not allow ourselves to entertain the 
brutal crack-brained theory that the man who works the 
hardest is the richest. Oh no! Far from it. No man loves to 
work just for the sake of working. There is a world of 
difference between work and being worked. That which is in- 
dispensible is necessary, and, that which is unnecessary is far 
worse than foolish talk and idle play. It is so much like telling 
one to dig useless holes and then fill them up again. This, 
then- is the fixed policy of civilization, which, is unjust. Any- 
thing, of course, to keep one busily employed. Then, too, there 
is a vast difference between work and toil, and work of choice. 
The Africans have sense enough to know this. Millions of 
civilized people, both white and black, are forced to do all 
manners of disagreeable work that is simply repulsive to their 
talents. Work is only a means, and the Africans also have 
sense enough to know this; they work to live, not live to 
work. They work only enough to aid nature in sustaining 
their lives. Whereupon the other hand- we are given to un- 
necessary grinding toil in order to enrich a few idlers, or- 
rather loafers, and destroy the very existence of the many 
honest, but foolish producers. Now, the Africans say that this 
is all wrong, and I have heard many of your labor leaders say 
the same; so far, then, you and the savage Africans, so-called, 
are in accord. 

Moreover, the Africans laugh at our social and industrial 



40 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

economics. One day I was fortunate enough to see a white 
missionary showing one of his native converts how to use a piclt 
and shovel. The native first started at the disagreeable task 
with puckered up lips and something like a grumble. The 
tropical heat was intense; he was working directly beneath 
the burning Equator, the hottest division of the earth. This 
would never do! For, no sooner had the sweat and palm 
oil begun to pop out on him, he quickly divorced himself from 
the tools and went off and laid down in the shade of a tree 
well ladened with golden tropical bread fruit. As I before said, 
I was an eye-witness to the whole scene. His callous indiffer- 
ence to the disagreeable work, of course, only angered the 
missionary of which the representative of Christendom bolted 
up to the native and inquired in no friendly tone of voice as to 
why he ceased work. The native returned in plain, but logical 
English: "Because, to live hard, work hard- die hard- and go 
to hell after all, would be hard, indeed." "Did your Man Jesus 
Christ use a pick and shovel?" continued the native with quiv- 
ering lips and indignation flashing in his eyes. 

"Not to my knowledge," returned the missionary in a more 
friendly tone of voice. 

Then, why ask me to use them?" 

"Because," said the missionary, "because, there is honor ih 
honest labor." 

"Are you a man of honor?" interrogated the convert, en- 
deavoring to turn the tables. 
"I presume so." 

"Then, honor yourself with that pick and shovel-" hastily 
put in the native, jumping to his feet and disappearing in the 
dense tropical jungles nearby. 

You see now. This African, savage or no savage, had 
brains enough to see the folly in unnecessary work; but, had 
he been born and reared in the civilized world he might have 
permitted his boss to work him to death. Who knows? We 
hear, see and read of such cases every day. 

Where ever I landed in Africa, I met with hospitality from 
the natives on every hand, to my profound astonishment. 
Well yes, would you believe it, I was even given the freedom 
of the country — an extraordinary privilege that one don't enjoy 
in his own civilized communities. How, then, is this by the 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 41 



way of comparison? If this be an act of savagery, then, indeed, 
I would as it were a prevailing custom throughout Christen- 
dom. But let us not stop here. Free access to the natives' 
simple but comfortable homes is the order of the day. My 
name-sake — Dr. Shepherd, I presume- forgot to mention these 
essential facts in his booklets, or, more properly speaking, 
'ooklet-s. But, where else, I ask, on the face of God's green 
earth is such hospitality and benevolence displayed? Tell me. 
Let the good Doctor answer this question. As a world-wide 
traveler, sailor, soldier and all-around adventurer, I have yet to 
see anything to compare with it. 

Natives will give you, yes- free of cost- both food and 
lodging, to say nothing of protection. Are these the doings 
of savages? Even your own white man's text books and thous- 
ands of other historical works treating on African travels, 
explorations, and adventures frankly acknowledge the common 
every day fact, that Europeans of every nationality have, and 
are still elbowing their way from coast to coast through that 
great black mass of African humanity without so much as re- 
ceiving a scratch at the hands of the natives. The Africans 
would never think of turning you from their door. They will 
cheerfully divide their last morsel with you, although I have 
as yet to see a beggar among them. Civilization is full of 
beggars of which one-half — 

"Sleep all day to keep from eating. 
And walk all night to keep from sleeping." 
Civilization is loud in its condemnation of the African's 
morality. But, the joke is on civilization- nevertheless. The 
Africans' standard of morality is at such a low ebb, that you 
will never find among them so much as a single jail, single 
work house, single poor house, single crazy asylum, nor, mor- 
ality and political economy, a single house of prostitution. 
But, on examining my memory and casting my eyes about 
civilization- I observe- with disgust, where the Christians are 
jailing each other for little less than nothing — for even beg- 
ging a mere crust — keeping late hours — and, for the want 
of honest employment. Oh! it is pitiful! And, as for morality, 
which the Christians are so eloquent about, it is like a secret 
beyond recall— it is going abegging. I think we had better 
wait first until we have enjoyed a century or two of true-blue 



42 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

morality and civilization before we undertake to put the other 
fellow's house in order. The Africans are at liberty to go 
and come whenever they please, at any and all hours, both 
day and night, and there are no policemen to intercept them 
with: "Halt! Whose there? What's your business out so 
late tonight? Where are you living? How long have you 
been living there? Is this your home town? If not- from 
whence did you hail? And how long have you been in town? 
Where are you working? Well,now — I don't know about that: 
you had better come along with me and explain your case to 
the chief. Perhaps he can fix you up." I think the Africans 
have the Christians here on the hip. Above all, your life 
is far more safer in what is called the "Wilds of Africa" than 
what it is in so-called free and enlightened America. While 
over there I enjoyed more freedom and liberty in a single 
hour, than what either whites or blacks can ever hope to en- 
joy in this country or any other civilized community, and, 
indeed, when I have spread my propaganda, I shall, if it pleases 
God, depart for the shores of Mother Africa, and, there- resign 
to my fate. 

Talk about morality and honesty! Confusion! Why- out 
there, chickens roost on the house-tops, and cattle and swine 
feed from place to place unattended; the natives have no oc- 
casion for watch dogs; locks and keys, with them, is a lost 
art, or, rather, an art unfound. Doors of their homes are 
kept constantly wide open both day and night. Only those 
born and reared in civilization deserve watching in Africa. 

We harp a good deal about the "Open door" policy- but, 
we must own that we maintain barred doors, watch dogs, 
courts, prisons and policemen, and that we keep everything 
as well as ourselves under lock and key. We haven't much 
consideration for our enemies; where we only keep one eye 
on our enemy, we keep two on our friends; our enemy can do 
us no harm; we know him, but, our so-called friends can and 
are doing us no end of mischief. 

Among the Africans- you will find no class distinction, no 
discriminations, no lynchings, no disfranchisements- nor, hu- 
man barbecueings. All these evils are the original creations 
of civilization of which many have already been introduced 
into Africa, that the natives might see that Christendom is. 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 43 

after all, the only incubator for breeding the worse form of 
savagery and cannibalism. Of course, it is often asserted that 
cannibalism is practiced by certain African tribes. But, I have 
as yet to see it, and, I have not yet met with one- in all my 
travels and lit-erary researches, who says that he or she, has 
ever saw it in practice. Such flimsy, disjointed hearsay evi- 
dence would be thrown out of any court of justice. However, 
it is a profound mystery to me, that the reporters of cannibal- 
Ism always manage to escape the pot. Were there any truth 
to the story these Africans would have, according to the laws 
of supply and demand, eaten themselves out of existence ages 
ago. It is an easy thing to tell a lie, but it is a difficult, yes 
a very difficult matter, to support the lie after it is told. Truth 
is a uniform thing; it is fully man enough to stand upon its 
own merit; false testimony is always good against itself. 
What, then, is called African cannibalism, is, after all, only a 
dream, if not a crazy night-mare. That there is a country in 
Africa known as Canniballand is a geographical fact and, in- 
sofar, (don't forget) that said country was named Canniballand 
by misleading whites, is still another fact that speaks ill 
against them — but, as for the inhabitants of said country eat- 
ing human flesh, that is, I hold, another thing altogether. Geo- 
graphically speaking, Canniballand is situated on the Upper 
Congo in Central Africa. When a mere boy at the Children's 
Home, the greater part of my time was given to reading stories 
on these so-called cannibals- which, of course- gave me a long- 
ing desire to see them in active life. To think that no other 
but black people were given to devouring one another, was, to 
me, young as I was, then, a matter of serious concern, for, 
wherein has it ever been recorded, in truth, of even the lower 
creatures devouring its own kind. Naturally- while in Africa 
I was, as I promised at the Children's Home, determined to 
define the truth. While on the Upper Congo River, in our 35 
foot steam launch, Africana, trading here and there among the 
hundreds of Congo native tribes, I stated the fact to my trading 
partner and fellow African adventurer, Nathaniel Dumesco, a 
West Indian Negro. As we both were out for knowledge and 
new fields of adventures- he was highly elated over the pro- 
posal, and we- at once broke camp, stored our baggage aboard 
our three trailers — African natives' thirty foot canoes — and, 



44 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

set out on our expedition to this much-talked about Canni- 
balland. In short, after two days' hard steaming in full view 
of the great Congo forests, we finally reached our point of 
destination. 

As we wended our way through a well-built bamboo village, 
we encountered four cannibal warrior braves (although I here 
beg their pardon for pronouncing them as cannibals,) who, 
inquired as to the nature of our mission. Through out inter- 
preter, Ni, a native of Arrubaland- Northern Nigeria, we told 
them that we were simply friends badly in need of food and 
rest. "Alo," said the spokesman' of the squad, which, in English 
means alright. The thirty-five men of our expedition fell in 
line in true military style and followed the warriors to a 
long flat one story bamboo building. On entering this spacious 
edifice we were ushered before the highest authority of Canni- 
balland — King Wyambe. He received us most cordially v/ith 
something like a broad grin. As we did not care to be out- 
done by so-called cannibals in civility, we, of course, returned 
the compliment by falling upon our knees and extending our 
hands towards his majesty. Having underwent these formali- 
ties, Ni' our interpreter, who- on his part, mastered fifteen 
different native African languages, stated our position to the 
king. On hearing our make-believe tale of woe, the king 
sucked his teeth and shook his head in disapproval as though 
he could not endure even the very thought to see one go hun- 
gry or without rest. Now, when a Christian judge sucks his 
teeth, shakes his head or adjusts his eye-glasses upon his nose, 
it generally implys no less than thirty days in the work house; 
but, unlike civilization, this so-called king of man-eaters did not 
place us under arrest or convey us to a work house on a 
charge of vagrancy or confine us within a poor house on the 
pretext of poverty. This- then, is what I would properly call 
making an honest comparison. Dr. Shepherd and others should 
have done likewise, and, since they had failed to do so, their 
silence on the matter leaves their position open to suspicion. 
But to resume: The king ordered his warriors to escort us to 
another apartment which was nothing less than a hall for 
feasting. Seating us around a well-polished mahogany board 
the warriors then left us to bring forth food. During the inter- 
mission, Nat and I exchanged words on the nature of the com- 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 45 

ing bill-o-fare; naturally we thought, like all green horns, that 
the table would be garnished with a roast brown human 
carcass served with La sauce De Missionaire. But in this 
we were badly, if not gladly mistaken, as- the foodstuff was 
bountiful and wholesome, indeed, and, in no light related to 
cannibalism. I might here call off the contents of the bill-o- 
fare in the following verse of which I am the rightful author: 
In that Cannibal feasting hall, 
Chicken was served to one and all. 
With potatoes sweet and royal game meat, , 
Oh! how we all did laugh and eat. 
Our wine was made from the palm tree root. 
And our gin was made from the mango fruit. 
Do these articles of consumption appear anything like 
cannibalism? 

I freely give this bill-o-fare to the Christian cannibals, 
and, I then ask their critics if it does not establish the certain- 
ty of what I here lay down ? Thus much for the bill-of-f are. As 
a side issue the critics are now likely to say that cannibalism 
is not a common every day affair; that the natives only 
devour human flesh in time of state or upon some other 
special occasion. But- it won't do, I say. Honor bright! 
Come clean! Show down! This thing of jumping from pillar 
to post only tends to make their position all the more suspi- 
cious; for, during my six month's stay in this so-called Canni- 
balland all of the principal heads of our expedition dined in 
state with all the native potentates on all occasions of note, 
and' yet we neither seen nor heard of a single case of cannibal- 
ism. Were there a particle of truth to the story we might have 
seen as much as a single polished skull or bleached bone of 
humanity scattered about. Now somebody or bodies have lied 
downrightly. But, my African experience leaves me at no 
loss; for it teaches me, with unerring certainty, at a single 
sweeping survey, that he who is called the naked untutored 
African is far less a savage or cannibal than we of civiliza- 
tion. Dr. Shepherd, so it is said, was in Africa for 20 long 
years; that is to say, in other words, he was there (if he ever 
was there) long enough to have been converted to cannibalism, 
and, made a complete study of the social, industrial, agricul- 
tural, religious- political, commercial, domestic and geographi- 



46 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

cal conditions of that country. These are the most essential 
things of life — and- things that an ambitious people are striv- 
ing to learn with respect to any and all foreign countries. 
Well, yes; even in my case as a sailor, soldier and all-around 
adventurer, they were the first and foremost that appealed to 
my reason. But, where were the Doctor's eyes during the 
whole of his lengthy sojourn abroad? Did he reside in Africa 
blindfolded, or, is it likely that he fell an invalid to the African 
sleeping disease. It looks it since he can tell us nothing about 
these essential things. As America is the last country in the 
world for the Negroes, and, as the Negroes are somewhat in- 
quisitive about the land of their ancestors, the Dr. should, as 
a whole-souled raceman, have told them as to whether Africa 
was a promising field for Negro immigration, and, this is a 
duty alike incumbent upon all American Negroes of African 
experience. But, lo! instead of so doing, the Dr. had wished 
rather to harp on fairy tales — things that appeal to children. 
After all, youth is the seed-time for all such follies. The Dr. 
left everything for his readers and listeners to guess at and 
be mistaken, and- where we guess, we theorize, where we 
theorize, we doubt, and, where we doubt, we don't believe. 
But, in this lecture I have left no room for guess-work, no, not* 
even in the minds of the most stupid; I lecture not for the 
sake of winning your love for Africa, on the contrary; I lec- 
ture on the true conditions of Africa and the Africans for 
truth's sake only, and- then, those of you who feel disposed to 
immigrate to Africa in order to better your conditions, on the 
strength of this truth, are at liberty to do so; that, I hold, is 
your personal business, not mine. Whether or not you colon- 
ize yourselves, it will not lessen the merits of this lecture. 
Not one whit. The truth, however, sweet or bitter, will for- 
ever stand upon its own merits, and, so far, thank God, I 
have told it. 

Up-to-date, I have not, I hope, attacked the Doctor's 
moral character, nor, either, have I in any form condecended 
to incivilities; for, where we wish to reform, or educate, we 
should not reproach. I entertain no enmity, animus, preju- 
dice nor animosity against the man. Truly. As with all man- 
kind, I entertain the highest regards and respect for him. 
That is for the man. Where facts are concerned I care noth- 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 47 



ing about the man himself. The Dr. himself is allright- but, 
as I before said, his principles are all wrong. Principles! That 
is all. 

The evidence I have produced, and shall continue to pro- 
duce in the course of my lecture, to prove that the Africans 
are altogether a different class of people in every point from 
which they have been painted, will, while it wounds the stub- 
borness of all these lieing critics, relieve and transquilize the 
the minds of millions of the Race born and reared outside of 
Africa; it will free them of all those hard thoughts of their 
fellow-racemen in the Motherland, which crafty Christians 
had infused into their minds, and, which stood in everlasting 
opposition to their ambition to seek safer refuge in their natural 
God-given country under a government of their own. If we 
only permit our reason to act, we will, upon reflection, ob- 
serve where it is utterly impossible to enslave downright sav- 
age people. The American Indians, who themselves were un- 
tutored savages, proved this to be true in their refusal to be 
converted into chattel slaves by the white man. They, as 
history will, and does prove, fought to death against it. Only 
civilized people submit themselves to slavery in its various 
forms. Were the Africans of today savages- then, the Am- 
erican Negroes' ancestors certainly must have been civilized 
people, and, were they really savages, they would have cer- 
tainly fought to the death against being conveyed away from 
their native land as chattel slaves for foreign countries. It 
won't do — the Africans are as civilized as the most favored 
of God's creatures, and, were it not so, the native Africans, like 
the American Indians, would be forever up in arms against all 
whites in that country. It is because the Africans are too 
civilized that we fail to hear of daily slaughters as is customary 
among real savages. Strange, indeed, that the civilized Negroes 
of today will submit themselves to the same contaminated con- 
ditions as their savage ancestors! 

I here repeat the challenge, when I say that the worst of 
all savages in or out of Africa are white people; in order to 
define the truth of this assertion we need not so much as to go 
to Africa, for, we, or, rather many of us see the most hellish 
acts of savagery practiced by the Southern crackers. If 
anything, the whites are trying their utmost to convert the 



48 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

simple minded Africans into savages, if not slaves and pros- 
titutes. The white man makes a great ado about the Africans 
crude implements of war- but he loses sight of his own deadly- 
engines of destruction. What is civilization, in the first place? 
Enlightment, is it not Then why do these so-called civilized 
people invent the most dreadful agents of frightfulness. Brute 
is but brute; savagery is but savagery; all weapons of terror 
are relics of barbarism, and, the worst of all savage is he 
who conveys the most formidable weapon. I should think. 
One of the white man's gun's will do more mischief than 
five hundred African spears; one of his machine guns will 
destroy more huma,n life than fifty thousand African war 
clubs, and, just one of his third-class gun boats will sink all 
the war canoes upon the waters of what he pleases to call 
savageland. The white man has shamefully abused his civili- 
zation and religion; you will percieve, if you will only permit 
your reason to act, where these civilized or educated white 
savages, have taken their pure and genuine religion of Jesus 
Christ and simmered it down to conquest and commercialism, 
and in so doing t-hey have prepared themselves for the com- 
mission of every other crime. This white man has skillfully 
and diplomatically twisted and battered himself from a devout 
Christian to a princely merchant. Christ according to the 
account, was neither a merchant nor politician. But this 
white man has turned the tables; even his farcial priests takes 
up the trade for the sake of gain, and, in order to qualify 
themselves for the impositions, they begin with a god of 
peace, a god of war, a god of battle, and a god of victory. 
This- then, is the true combination of the white man's religion 
and commercialism. The two are twin vultures from the same 
egg; for, mind you, with a shot gun in one hand, and a bible 
in the other, this savage white man has made a tour of the 
whole world and conquered in the na,me of Jesus Christ the 
four darker races and their respective countries. Conquest 
is the white man's religion; Commerce is his Jesus Christ; 
happiness in this life is his heaven, and, to make misery for 
the four darker races on this earth is the only hell that he 
knows or even cares anything about. And if there should be 
such a place as a future state of hell, there will, I should think, 
be enough white rogues to fill it. 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 49 

Talk about Africans savagery! Praise be to my African 
Experience Just for the sake of another case, what did 
my eyes behold in Congoland during my life as an African 
trader, prospector and adventurer throughout that unhappy 
land While cruising up the mighty Congo River in my 35 
foot steam launch Africana, our little expedition of 35 loyal 
scouts stopped over at no fewer than 500 native villages, 
and, what a sight met our eyes! Here, then, is where white 
Christian savagery had created havoc among the simple minded 
people of which it is said that their God sent them among 
to expound his doctrine of doing loving, justice and mercy. 
At every village in which we landed in order to barter off 
our goods- we observed with disgust where hundreds of natives 
in every settlement had been subjected to the worst form of 
human carnage, at the cruel and merciless hands of Christian 
Leopold, the 1st, the King of the Belgians. As before stated, 
the white man's religion and commerce are at the bottom of 
the whole nefarious business; the former is the force that 
conquered the country, and, the latter is the. medium that re- 
duced the natives to serfdom. All natives who came up short 
on either their rubber, hides, or ivory taxs, underwent so 
much physical punishment by orders of the Brittish Belgian 
officers commanders of native troops, or, rather, armed tax 
collectors. Eyes were gorged out- ear lobes cut off, nose dis- 
figured, cheeks punctured, lips slit wide open, face branded 
with red-hot irons, arms and legs amputuated; and, last of 
all, but, not the least, baby girls and young native women 
brutally outraged by the lustful Belgian officers, after which 
their breasts were butchered off clean to the bone, of which 
the whole gruesome picture, when healed, appeared to the 
eye like shriveled up charred leather. If these act-s of bar- 
barism are not worthy of going down in the cata,logue of 
savagery, then, I ask, how much farther must one go, or- how 
much lower must one degenerate himself in order to be prop- 
erly called a full-fledged savage? According to our calcula- 
tions, facts and figures, registered in our journal, the grand 
total multilated natives which we saw with our own naked 
eyes, amounted to eight hundred and forty-three thousand. 
Think of that for food for thought! But, even this does not 
include the 20,000,000 murdered outright, nor the 5,000,000 



50 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

who suffered death as an act of these crude operations. But, 
even this is not all. To crown all, the front garden attached 
to every Belgian officer's bungalow contained beautiful tropi- 
cal flower-beds of which every one were bordered around with 
polished grinning human skulls of natives butchered by these 
white savages. You Negroes outside of Africa can have no 
idea what wickedness these pale face savages are pulling off in 
Africa- and, what appear to be more strange, if not mar,- 
vellous,- is the horrible fact, that you don't seem to care, so 
long as it is not effecting you personally, but, however, with 
all your callous indifference, we, as a part of the race, are un- 
dergoing the same experience in America; we may deny our 
African heritage; we may turn a deaf ear to the Africans' 
heart-rendering wails, but, withal we can not successfully 
duck nor dodge the issue; if we must prolong our existence 
as a God-given Race, we must face the music, take the bull 
by the horns, throw him, break his neck, and be hearty 
enough to eat him; for- as I said time and again, the all- 
absorbing fact is — if Africa is not redeemed from the hands 
of these foreign white robbers, then, I hold, that the whole 
Negro Race, the wide world over is forever, yes, forever lost 
along with Africa. There is no two ways about it; for the 
two must exist together or die together, as the Indians had 
died at the loss of America. The weak, timid and sluggish 
must give way to the more strong, progressive, and adven- 
turous. There's no getting out or around it. 

The subject is somewhat interesting, indeed. These so- 
called Christians have not only out-rivalled the Africans in 
downright savagery, but, also in the manner of dress. There 
is nothing so vulgar and indecent than the fads and fashions 
of civilized life, especially in the present day frocks in which 
the women exposed their bare backs, the greater part of 
their breastworks, sleeveless arms, bare legs, of which the 
short knee-skirts indicate short morals . One day I saw a 
white female missionary dressed in white duck skirts that 
fairly reached to her knees, and., when she sat down in the 
cool of the cocoanut shade with her retinue of native con- 
verts about her, she seized the hem of her short skirt and en- 
deavored to pull it down far below her knees as if she was 
ashamed of it. But, it would not do; the natives seated about 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 51 

lier seen the folly in her wardrobe. If, indeed, she was de- 
termined that that dress should reach below her knees, why, 
then, I ask, did she not make that skirt long enough in the 
first place? Ah! Why? That's the question. No, the fact 
of the matter is — we of civilization has that craving desire 
to imitate the African dress far more than we care to admit. 

Moreover, many articles of clothing and inventions now 
in practical usage among so-called civilized people, were only 
original ideas stolen from the native African tribes by those 
European nations maintaining spheres of influence in Africa. 
They don't slip it over on me. . I recognize the plagerism, or, 
shall I say downright theft. The fancy low-sole sandals now 
worn among civilized people, can trace their origin back to 
the Pelltah tribes in the Egyptian Soudan introduced abroad 
as a white man's invention by missionaries and traders. What 
is called the Mother Hubbard female dress now in common 
usage throughout civilization, was first invented and worn 
even today by the Guinea Coast tribes along the Equator, the 
hottest division of the earth. The garment is wholly a tropical 
product adapted expressly to ward off the excessive heat, and re- 
ceive, in turn, an ample supply of ventilation. The turban- 
hat that decorate the heads of the civilized beauties, is the na- 
tional headgear of the Negro tribes inhabiting the states in the 
interior of the vast territory known as British Northern and 
Southern Nigeria. 

Rubber nipples used on babies' milk bottles were first, 
and, is yet used universally by the various native mothers 
inhabiting the great rubber producing countries in Congo- 
land, West Central Africa, of which the idea was in troduced 
Into civilization by the early Portuguese settlers in the Six- 
teenth Century. 

A few years ago an American traveler left the interior of 
South Africa, carrying away with him what the "Rain-makers" 
of the interior tribes call, "Boom boom" an instrument for 
producing rain modelled on the principle of the old fashion 
muzzle-loading cannon. This same traveler accused the na- 
tive inventors of this instrument and their tribe as being sav- 
ages, and, yet, upon his arrival in America he introduced this 
mechanic product of these "untutored savages' inventive genius 
into civilized America as a useful art; it is now being used with 



p2 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

success, by the American Government for the sole purpose of 
producing rain from its thunderous roars in the almost rainless 
west. 

The Guinea Coast in West Africa is the original home of 
the banjo; the instrument was first introduced abroad when 
our ancestors were shipped as slaves into the American colo- 
nies. Fancy lattice flooring, wicker-baskets, chairs and artistic 
bamboo furniture are the natural and original products of na- 
tive tribes of tropical Africa, of which the whole were smuggled 
into the civilized world by white robbers. The white man is 
even tearing down certain African pyramids, erected centuries 
ago by the Black man's Civilization, and re-erecting them 
abroad in his cities, which, in turn, will be looked upon by his 
children's children as wonderful creations of their fathers. 

What is now universally called the "English hair cut," is 
but another English highway robbery, stolen from the Zulu and 
Kaffir tribes in British South Africa, and- whoever will take the 
trouble to investigate will observe that such is a fact. 

Furthermore, the short knee skirts now in fashion among 
civilized women were fashioned in style after the short bamboo 
panties worn by maids in the Liberian Kroo Boy Tribe of ¥/est 
Africa. But the plagerism does not stop here. 

Even as I sit at my present writing in the shade of. the 
beautiful fan palm, in full view of the Leopoldville, Upper Con- 
go, I am interrupted by Ni, my native interpreter, who brings 
me my mail sent out from New York. But, hardly had I opened 
the newly arrived New York Journal, when I am informed by 
one of its articles that even the African nose-ring had been in- 
troduced by some fashionable well known actress, who ap- 
peared upon the public streets of New York with the article 
suspended in her nose. When accosted by a reporter, she said, 
to use her own language: "I am endeavoring now to make the 
African Nose-ring the universal fad of the day." You see now? 
What's next? These people who would pronounce the Afri- 
cans as savages are too ridiculous even for criticism. If, in- , 
deed, I was superior or really considered myself superior to 
another race of people, why, should I bring myself down to 
their standard of customs- traditions or modes of living? It 
would appear to my philosophy that it would be more reason- 
able that the underdog should work his way up to my methods 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 53 

of doing business. But such is the nature of the white man's 
hypocrisy. As with the Africans' dress and mechanical inven- 
tions, he has even entered the native Africans' homes and 
stole their ideas on the manufacturing of palm wine, mango jin, 
and palm olive and cocoanut oil soaps. But he does not even 
end here; for, he honors himself with the natives' natural land- 
scapes and scenes; the natives' name to Mout Ubangi was 
changed by the thieving whites to Mount Leopold. 

The original native name for Lake Tacku on the Upper 
Congo was altered by the white robbers to Stanley's Pool; the 
native name for the water fall Limpoo was twisted by the 
whites into Livingston's Pall; the native name for Matabee 
Falls was shifted by the whites to Victoria Nyanza Fall; the 
native name for the large territory in South Africa was re- 
Christened by the whites as Northern and Southern Rodhdesia; 
then, next in order came Africa's greatest of all geograhical 
change, or, rather, highway robberies — British Africa, French 
Africa, Portugee Africa, Spanish Africa, German Africa, Italian 
Africa, and, Belgian Africa. Here, then- is the whole phase in 
substance of which the whole, as we see, is nothing short of 
highway robberies. So, far, then, as the whites being the most 
civilized on the one hand, they are, upon the other, at the same 
time, the most savage and domineering, and the greatest ras- 
cals of plagarists, copyists and imitators to be found in the 
human family. If the white man really meant to do the right 
thing by the Africans in the manner of civilizing and Chris- 
tianizing them, why, then, did he not invite the teeming mil- 
lions of qualied North, South- and Central American and West 
Indies Negroes to do the job? Why? The subject speaks for 
itself. 

However, the white man's rascalities in Africa has done 
some good; for, the so-called Christians are, at last, outdone in 
what they please to call uplifting the African Negroes. The 
white missionaries, as I saw things in Africa, only make con- 
verts servile. We, as a race, should praise the work of Mos- 
lems. The methods of the Mohammedan teachers make the 
African Negroes self-reliant, whereas the Christian teachings 
endeavor to make them cringing nonentities for the white 
colonial government in Africa. This was chiefly due to the 
fact that the white man caused the Negro to look upon him as 



54 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

a master, while the Mohammedan teacher regarded him more 
as an equal, if not superior, and, teaches him to bow his head 
only to Allah, the black man's God. 

Chrstianity fell short in Africa, not because of the true 
religious principles of Jesus Christ, but because the so-called 
missionaries of the religion of Christ reduced the true and 
genuine religion of Christianity down to a selfish matter of 
commercialism, and' in order to get the commerce of Africa 
they resorted to trickery, and taught the African, in the same 
manner as the American as the American Negro, to look upon 
the white man as his Superior and bow to hinx as something 
divine. And both white and black preachers of Christendom 
encouraged that. 

There is, as I saw it, equality in the religion pf Mohammed. 
It constitutes the foundation of a real brotherhood and no man 
is above his fellow. This, then, goes to prove that any and all 
religions are good that teaches man to be good, and I know of 
no other that teaches him to the contrary. Some would reply 
that the Africans are idol worshippers, nevertheless. Are they? 
Admitting now just for the sake of a case, that they are. What, 
then? Nothingness. To say that a people are idol worship- 
pers because they kneel before fantastic images, is as true as 
to say that the Christians are worshippers of idols because of 
their kneeling before an altar or a crucifixion. The Africans^ 
like the Christians, have in mind, when kneeling before these 
images, the self-same Supreme Being. Moreover, even if the 
Africans did take a notion to worship a brass monkey- and, that 
brass monkey was the means of making them a better people, 
what, then, I ask, could the Christians place against their re- 
ligion. Nothing. We must admit, if we permit our reason to 
act, that the brass monkey can do no harm, but, these Chris- 
tians so-called, can, and are doing a good deal of mischief. 
Well, yes — even doing the present lecturing, these so-called 
savage idol worshippers are, as we see, at peace with both their 
God and whole mankind, while the so-called civilized Chris- 
tians are trying to set the whole of their God's creation on 
fire. There they are, as we see them today in Europe in all 
their Christian savagery, grappling and cutting each others' 
throats, while the brutal African savages and cannibals (so- 
called) stand quietly by in profound transquility looking on — 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 55 

as if to say- "Well, if that's Christianity excuse me!" Pretty 
contrast, indeed! But, not being satisfied with the peaceful 
neutrality of these African savages, as they are called, the 
superior whit-e Christians, as they would call themselves, go 
out of all the limits of their superiority, to call upon the in- 
ferior black savages to give him a helping hand. What a case 
have we in these white people! And what fools do these white 
people's false religious doctrines make of my people! 

Then as for this much talked about African witchcraft, 
voodoosim and religious superstition. That the Africans are 
given to these more or less, I here admit, who, though, as 
human like ourselves, are not without their fault, and, that 
they have made mistakes I also equally acknowledge. And, who 
has not? I know I have. But, voodoosim and religious super- 
stition are not confined wholly to the Africans. Not by any 
means. In the Eighteenth Century civilized Christians, even in 
the early history of the American colonies- were put to death 
by the tens of thousands for preaching witchcraft. Although 
it is no longer considered as a crime, yet, and, still, the bulk 
of us still wallow in the belief. Considering the figure 13 as an 
unlucky number is only a matter of superstitition. Fortune tell- 
ing is still another case. 

The belief in the interpretation of dreams is not a proof of 
clear brains. Whatever we put down as an illomen is simply a 
question of witchcraft. It may not appear to us all in that 
light, but, were you detected in the act of practicing spiritual- 
ism back in those days, you would have been justified in hav- 
ing your ears cropped, or your arms and legs locked in a pillor, 
or your body burned, or placed upon a drawing table and quar- 
tered. Again: One-half of us maintains dried beetles, goo goo 
claws, cocks' combs, rabbits' feet or some other kind of fool- 
ish articles styled as charms in order to put to flight what we 
please to call evil spirits. Too many of us believe in ghost 
stories, fairy tales and haunt-ed houses. How many of you 
that's here tonight would be willing to stand watch over a dead 
person all night without getting drunk? A few (and but few). 
Those of you who would be willing to sleep over night in a 
graveyard will please raise your hands. Not a raised hand do I see. 

We very often hear of the American Negroes being the 
Advance Guards of the Negro Race. No greater lie than this 



56 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

foolish claim has yet been told. I stoutly maintain with truth, 
and, without reproach, that the African is a much better man 
than you American Negroes, and he is by far wiser; unlike you 
he is no stand-patter; he stands alone; he paddles his own 
canoe; he prefers Africa to America, and, on graduating from 
an American or European school, right straight back to Africa 
the majority go to impart the blessings of civilization to their 
benighted people — I say, benighted — but, as I before said, the 
truth is, they are not one-half as benighted as we are. He 
stands for no nonsense; he is a practical man; he loves Africa 
and his Race, which, don't forget, is more than many among 
us can truthfully say; unlike we of America, they use no Kink- 
no-more, hair tonic, nor, bleaching powders — ^Sure Cure for 
Blackness; he is half-way imitator, but, an original man; he 
does not sing, "Wash Me And I Shall Be Whiter Than Snow" 
he is independent and has hundreds of nationalities and coun- 
tries, which he is fully capable of redeeming when the time is 
full and ripe; his languages, customs, traditions and modes of 
living are truly African; when he kneels before his idols three 
times a day, he has no chicken-mouth preachers nor empty 
churches to contend with; his mind is his preacher; his home 
is his church; his idol is his God^but, as already observed — 
let us not lose sight of the fact, that an African idol is no worse 
than a Christ on a cross; both alike are idols. 

Of course, you wear more and finer clothes than the Afri- 
can, but, as already understood, fine clothes do not make fine 
people; a fifteen dollar hat on a two-cent head counts for noth- 
ing; the Africans dress for comfort sake, not for mere show or 
style; that although the African is a simple and frugal liver, 
(which, after all, is the only life worth living) he still does 
many wonderful things that ought to open your eyes, and, 
force you to sit up, think and do. Come! Travel along with 
me now. Give me your arm- and let us take a stroll through 
the native Africans' markets, where thousands are buying and 
selling all sorts of manufactures, along with the grains, fruits, 
and vegetables raised in their kitchen-gardens, and grown in 
wild profusion by the undeveloped virgin tropical soil. Observe 
the peddlers with their wares on their heads, and merchandise 
piled up before those squatting on the ground — do not these 
things suggest something to your glittering and glaring Amer- 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 57 

ica. They ougM to; but the knowledge does not stop here. 
The Africans has many industries — things that you yourselves 
are badly in need of — blacksmiths, carpenters, hatmakers, musi- 
cal instruments manufacturers, and, tailors are plying their 
trades in their respective homes throughout Africa. Come on, 
don't stop here, there is no limit to African industry; look this 
way, the Africans are famous for smelting iron of which it is 
said, they hold the secret of tempering copper; over there they 
are busy making baskets, and, farther on they can be seen 
weaving fancy gaudy colored cloth- and, in every home, they 
brew melee beer, cocoanut stout, palm wine, and mango jin, 
for those who love strong drinks. Among every tribe you will 
see natives manufacturing the most fantastic images, tools bas- 
kets, jewelry and pottery. As you know, all these things you 
must get from the white man or else do without them. Who, 
now, is the Advance Guards of the Race? Which is the super- 
ior officer? The African, as a matter of course. 

Geographically speaking, Africa is the second largest of 
the five grand divisions — second to Asia in size with an area of 
nearly 12,000,000 square miles of territory, which, when divided 
into four equal parts would be four times the size of Conti- 
nental United States, and- which, again, if divided and sub- 
divided into the size of the territory of New York it could boast 
of four hundreds states as large as the area of square miles 
of the states of New York. Africa in conference is as great as 
the conference of the whole earth — this is to say, more simply 
— she contains 25,000 miles of coast, and is eight thousand 
miles in diameter. She has a variety of climates, of which the 
tropical and semi-tropics are the two principal. 

Save the ancient Negro Kingdom of Abbissinia in the East 
and the more modern Negro Republic of Liberia in the West, 
Africa is divided into various spheres of influences by the al- 
ready named five European powers. 

Africa contains a population of nearly three hundred mil- 
lions of souls out of which two hundred and fifty millions are 
Negroes proper, who themselves are divided and sub-divided 
into no fewer than 2500 different independent Negro tribes; 
like the Afo- Americans, they are of every shade, hue, color, and 
complexion, of every texture of hair, each tribe speaking a dis- 
tinct language from the other. In my African school, I was 



58 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

not long finding out that in order to be a full-blooded Negro, 
it was not necessary for one to be jet-black or of a kinky head, 
far from it. The color has but little or nothing to do with 
physical make-up of a full-blooded Negro; it is mainly the 
their clean cut Negro features and characteristics, trait-s, customs 
and traditions that go to make up the Negro Races proper, 
not mere color or hair. A pure white skin will turn tan color 
and the straightest of hair will, in but a few years' time, 
crisped beneath the excessive tropical heat of Africa. 

While cruising in and about Africa as a trader, sailor, sol- 
dier, prospector, and all-around African adventurer, I frater- 
nalized with no less than six hundred different Negro tribes; 
and, I was somewhat struck at their manly physical beauty, 
and sense of intelligence. The little four-feet pygmies of the 
Congo forests, the dwarfs of Central Africa, and the Hottentos 
of South Africa, are, I found, the most backward tribes through- 
out Africa. But, all other tribes are of a higher order of in- 
telligence, thrift and industry. It is somewhat instructive, if 
not amusing' to observe them in an active state of life in their 
simple, but rational ways in doing business. They are well 
shaped; they look more like ancient Grecian Athletes; they 
are great hunters; dexterous oarsmen; skill swimmers; run- 
ners; jumpers and wrestlers. What are called champions of 
feats of indurance throughout the sporting world of civilization, 
wouldn't have a look in in comparison with an ordinary Afri- 
can. With the Africans, everything comes as if by natural in- 
stinct. The Africans live twice as long as the duration of 
human life among civilized people; at the game of running 
and swimming they can keep up a lively gait all day, and, it is 
but mere child's play for members of any tribe to jump a hur- 
dle at eight or nine feet, and, at the game of leap-frog they 
jump over backs six men high,, and, in strength, they are as 
strong as an ox and hearty enough to eat him. In their $talk- 
ing across the country, through palm and cocoanut groves, and 
village streets, they move about gracefully like kings and 
queens. 

We are told that the average duraltion of human life among 
the civilized is fixed at 35 years; while we of civilization are 
paying but insurances, digging our graves, and preparing to 
die during our brief existence; the frugal simple life among the 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 59 

Africans converts them into centerians. They are( as a rule, 
just beginning to live at the age of 35. It is no uncommon 
thing to see Africans among every tribe active in both body 
and mind, at the marvellous age of 150 calendar years. Those 
who live to reach the hundred mark in civilized life, are, in 
general Indians- who we know are given, like the Africns, to 
the simple out-door life, and the flowing white locked hermits, 
who themselves became so disgusted with their own crazy 
civilization, that they finally returned to the quiet, natural life 
among the foot-hills. 

Out of respect of my African experience, I have every good 
reason to believe that the Africans are the most virtuous peo- 
ple in the world. There are no vices nor prostitution among 
them — this is to say — so long as their society is not invaded by 
the civilized corrupters. Their tribal laws on domestic and 
matrimony affairs are, indeed, strict and forceful. 

To flirt, with success, with an African maid would be a 
rather difficult task even with a native belonging to a different 
tribe, let alone for foreign civilized people. When I first ar- 
rived in Africa I thought I would have but little or no trouble 
of winning myself a native wife, but, upon making my famous 
drive in love lore, I soon found out where I had mistaken my 
cargo. I believe I could win the love of ten thousand civilized 
maids in the same given time that I would have in which to 
win over the love of an African damsel. O ! what a trying' time 
I had! T'was so tiresome! With all of my pretended affection 
and love lore for certain African maids, I was, of a truth, six 
long years among them before they would even take any no- 
tice to my plea. Before the Africans will admit you into their 
family ties, you must first of all, show them a lively disposition 
that you are willing to be one of them proper; yea- before, you 
can even enter their hearts, you must get that dignified non- 
sense out of your head, and learn their languages, customs, 
traditions and modes of living. But, it was not until I had 
really proved myself a great African hunter of the big royal 
game, and recaptured a beautiful African princess from the 
hands of Arab slavers, did I win my first and only wife, in the 
personality of Lilkianna Maywa, the beautiful crown princess 
^f the Kingdom of Arrubaland, Northern Nigeria, Africa. 
f *"See frontispiece on cover. 



60 THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 

Like the North American Indians, the African almost wor- 
ship a warrior brave, or, a successful big game hunter, or a 
dare-devil adventurer. And in all of my knocking about the 
whole public world in my various callings, I have yet to find 
my first man, woman or child, who had ever said that he or she 
loved a coward. I know I don't. 

Be it said right here- (and I lay a good round sum of stress 
thereon) that the Africans are, as a rule, the most healthy, 
virtuous and contended of any and all peoples. We need not 
even go out to Africa in order to define the truth of this asser- 
tion, for — ^from out of all that you read in your daily histories 
(newspapers) and standard works of text books, pertaining to 
misery, want, suffering and epidemics, you have never, no, 
never, read or heard of a single instance of African prostitu- 
tion, pestilence, or bread-lines. Not one. 

Civilized people talk about their prostitution being a neces- 
sary evil! Stuff and nonsense! Necessary evil! Putting aside 
everything that might excite laughter by the profaneness of its 
absurdity, and let us confine ourselves down to the comparison. 
The Africans, savage as we would have them to be, do not, in 
spite of all, have no such evils among them. To prevent prosti- 
tution from dominating their virtuous lives- they have adopted 
the system of mating both male and female at their very birth, 
and, on maturing to man and womanhood, say twelve years of 
age, they, then, become man and wife. Here we are. Neces- 
sary evil! For civilized people to say that their prostitution 
is a necessary evil is as true as to say that the Africans are 
their superiors, after all. 

Assuming now that the Africans were savages of the worse 
type what, then? Nothing. Because a people who can't reason 
and won't reason deserves pity, but, a people who can reason 
and won't reason, are intellectual deformities, and moral lepers, 
and, wouldn't make reasonable companies for savages. 

Throughout civilization we hear no end of whining about 
the struggle for existence. Now why have a struggle for ex- 
istence, when, in fact, we boast of possessing the arts, the 
sciences and the modern utilities of production- of communica- 
tion and the facilities of transportation. These modern instru- 
ments, as we know, were first invented, in hopes, of lessening 
our daily drudgery, in return, for such a small capital. But, 



THE AFRICANS AS I SAW THEM 61 

so far as these things making times better, they only add to 
our wants, miseries and suffering. Africa feeds nearly three 
times as many people as the United States. Yet she has no 
labor-saving machines, nor, either do we hear her people 
clamoring about a struggle for existence. Why, I ask? Be- 
cause, as you will admit, at least 90 per cent, of the national 
wealth and power are in the hands of the privileged few — 
the idle rich. They have more than what's good for them, 
whilst the many honest, but, foolish, producers must go abeg- 
ging. At this point of the subject the question arises — which 
are really the savages — the Africans or whites? Which can 
lay claim to the true or fabulous civilization? Most assuredly 
the Africans believe in living and let live; they live for one 
another- and they would have progressed much better, had 
not any white people had anything to do with them. 

Of course, some would say, and have said, that the Afri- 
cans do not commit as much rascality as civilized people be- 
cause they have never been educated up to the same standard 
as those of civilization. Now, in defense of the Africans, I 
would say, in turn, that it is not their will to be educated to 
do things that would be detrimental to them. We say the 
same thing, but, we seldom practice it. What little mischief 
the Africans are doing is the outgrowth of gross ignorance — 
by not knowing better. This we are obliged to believe. Where- 
upon the other hand, all our rascality is done through the force 
of wisdom — by knowing too much. 

This is to say — speaking more plainly — that the more civi- 
lized we become, the more brutal and war-like we are. These 
are facts. So it is all sheer rot to say that the world is getting 
better; under such contaminated conditions as we live "Cheer 
up!" signs will never help our cause any. All considered, there- 
fore, what the Africans don't know won't hurt them, and, with 
this fact in mind, I would not advise the Africans savages so- 
called, to give up what little freedom they now enjoy for any 
possible comforts of so-called civilization. 

Here's to the American Negroes! I have here, at last, pre- 
sented to you the true conditions of "The Africans as I saw 
them — their customs- traditions and modes of living. So say I 
now, and so help me God! And endless succession of thanks to 
you for your kind uninvited attention. 

THE END 



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